EDSA Corp., developers of the Paladin platform of power analytics software, has announced the release of its Paladin Live PUE-DCiE Advisor in support of the new electrical power efficiency standards developed by the global IT association, The Green Grid.
The Green Grid is a collaborative organization of approximately 200 leading technology organizations, led by such firms as IBM, AT&T, Cisco, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, and others for whom mission-critical computing and environmental responsibility are driving corporate priorities.
To embrace the organization's standards, EDSA's Paladin Live power systems diagnostics platform has been enhanced to automatically present users with The Green Grid's Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and data center infrastructure efficiency (DCiE) ratings in real-time. Used in conjunction with Paladin Live's new Paladin BlackBoard option, users gain the valuable ability to take a baseline model of their operations, and-in real time-allow them to make changes or propose "what if" scenarios, allowing them to project the future impact of those changes on the calculation of PUE or DCiE.
"Because Paladin Live analyzes and diagnoses data center power infrastructure in real time every second-and down to the smallest detail-it presents facility operators with a wealth of vital information about system health, reliability, capacity, and energy efficiency to guide facility planning," said Kevin Meagher, chief technology officer for EDSA. "By pulling the data values needed to calculate energy utilization, and presenting that data in the manner specified by The Green Grid's PUE and DCiE requirements, Paladin Live is the first commercial software product to present this crucial operating information automatically and provides the ability to project or see how changes will affect these critical metrics."
One of the goals of The Green Grid's PUE and DCiE standards is to devise a commonly-applicable formula for data centers that is easy to understand-like "MPG" is for cars-to enable operators to quickly estimate the energy efficiency of their data centers, compare the results against other data centers, and determine if any energy efficiency improvements can be made.
PUE and DCiE are defined as:
- PUE is the ratio of a facility's total power to the power being drawn by IT equipment. The ratio is on an effective scale of 1.0 to 4.0 with a low score being most desirable; ideally, a facility's score should be lower than 2.0.
- DCiE is the percentage of IT equipment power to total facility power (e.g. a DCiE of 33 percent means the IT equipment consumes one-third of the power in the facility). The bigger the percentage, the better, e.g. DCiE of 33 percent is better than 25 percent.
"PUE and DCiE create a common reference point that make it possible for data center operators to start making important assessments of their facilities, as well as their going-forward strategies for reducing energy usage," Meagher added. "Imagine trying to calculate the MPG for your car-or just knowing how many miles you have left before you run out of gas-without gauges to tell you how much gas you started with, how big your gas tank is, your speed, or how far you've driven. PUE and DCiE provide values for the variables that, until now, kept data center operators largely in the dark about their energy efficiency."
The Paladin Live PUE-DCiE Advisor feature attacks the problem of energy inefficiency in two ways: first, the Company's Paladin DesignBase computer-aided design (CAD) modeler allows power systems engineers to design, simulate, and analyze the power systems model to optimize energy usage prior to construction. Once the facility is operational, EDSA's Paladin Live platform continually diagnoses the facility's performance by benchmarking it back against the design model. This continual comparison of design specifications with actual operating parameters helps to ensure that anomalies are quickly identified, isolated, and resolved.
By presenting its findings in PUE and DCiE format, Paladin Live helps data center operators, for the first time, to make informed, real-time decisions about the energy efficiency of their facilities, and develop actionable strategies for ensuring that their operations are as failsafe and energy efficient as possible.
About EDSA Micro Corp.
EDSA develops software solutions for the computer-aided design, modeling, real-time analysis, energy management, and preventative maintenance of complex electrical power systems. For more than 25 years, the Company's Paladin software products have been used in thousands of commercial, industrial, governmental, and military applications worldwide, to protect more than $100 billion in customer assets, while reducing their energy consumption. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., the company maintains sales, distribution, and support offices around the world. For more information about EDSA and its products, visit http://www.edsa.com/.
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