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Rising Power DensityServer technology continues to shrink in size. More compact designs have driven
power consumption per square foot skyrocketing. Few datacenters are now equipped
to support the power densities required by new generation servers. This shifts the
primary constraint to efficiently managing these facilities from space utilization
to power utilization. Better power usage measurements
are needed for each circuit within a facility to insure optimum utilization. These measurements will also give
rise to new pricing models that give consideration to actual power usage.
Increasing Power Variation
Until recently servers had very consistent power usage. Business and enterprise
servers’ power consumption varied by only about 5%. In recent years the adoption
of power management technologies in servers has dramatically changed this. Today
many servers vary their power consumption by 100% or more. This creates a new set
of challenges for datacenter operators. During low computational loads many servers
will only show half the apparent power usage that may be required during heavy computational
loads. Visual power indications by attached amp meters aren’t helpful because they
only indicate the load at that moment. What’s needed is a way to continuously monitor
and analyze power usage under a wide range of computational loads to determine the
true power requirements of each piece of equipment and the supplying power circuits.
Smart-Watts Meet the Challenge
Smart-Watt is a solution to these and many other power management challenges. Smart-Watt
accurately measures the energy consumption of any electric circuit. Simply connect
the male plug to your power source and connect the equipment to be metered to the
female receptacle(s). Smart-Watt continuously monitors the circuit and records the
cumulative energy consumption by the attached devices in 1/10th watt-hour increments,
which is 10,000 times the resolution of typical watt-hour meters. This high-resolution
reading is essential for accurately analyzing power usage on small branch circuits.
Typical watt-hour meters measure power consumption in KWH (1000 watt-hours). Measuring
small circuits at KWH resolution is like measuring a 100-yard dash with a calendar…useless,
because the unit of measurement is simply too large.
In addition to cumulative energy usage, Smart-Watt can also determine the load on
a circuit in watts over any reading period. Data can be logged to provide highly
accurate load profiles for each monitored circuit.
Smart-Watt can also detect power interruptions. Smart-Watt has an internal power-cycle
counter that increments each time source power is lost providing an accurate record
of all power interruptions on each monitored circuit.
Smart-Watt exceeds ANSI Standards for watt-hour meter accuracy so you are assured
of the same high accuracy standards that public utilities require for their meters.
This is an important consideration if you intend to bill your customers for their
power usage.
Smart-Watt supports a wide range of network reading options. You can daisy-chain
multiple Smart-Watts together and read them automatically from a host computer through
a Serial Port Adapter or USB Port Adapter. With the addition of a Smart-Net Gateway
you can remotely connect to a group of daisy-chained Smart-Watts from across a TCP/IP
network. The Smart-Net Gateway supports reading Smart-Watts via XML based Web Services,
SNMP, or automatically logging the data to a remote FTP Server.
Smart-Watt’s are available packaged as single inline meters or incorporated into
1U rack mounted Power Distribution Units (PDU) for both 120 or 208-240 VAC circuits
with most popular NEMA or IEC plugs and receptacles.
Better Measurements, Better Results
Smart-Watts’ cumulative watt-hour readings support new pricing models that separate
space charges from power charges. Power is a variable cost much like bandwidth;
it makes sense to measure its usage and bill for it. This enables datacenters to
offer competitive rates to their customers regardless of their power needs and it
provides customers with a fair pricing model that varies based on their power usage.
Smart-Watt provides datacenters the tools they need to accurately monitor and manage
each circuit in their facility assuring maximum utilization while at the same time
greatly reducing the risk of overloading circuits. Smart-Watt can provide a distinct
competitive advantage by reducing costs, differentiating services and improving
reliability.
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Watt-hour Metering -vs- Amp Metering
Amp Meters measure the rate of flow on an electric circuit at a given moment in
time. Amp Meters function much like the Speedometer in your car which measures the
speed at a given moment. Power is measured in watts which is the product of amps
times voltage. Watt-hour Meters continuously monitor the voltage, amperage and power
factor of a circuit to calculate the true electric usage over time in watt-hours.
Watt-hour Meters function much like the Odometer in your car which measures the
cumulative mileage traveled. Although both provide useful information only a Watt-hour
Meter can accurately measure cumulative electric usage. For cost allocation, energy
billing, or accurate load profiling our High Resolution Watt-hour Meters are the
perfect solution.
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