Achieving Sustainability through Flexibility in the Data Center

Oct. 18, 2018
In this week’s Voices of the Industry column,  Marc Cram, Director of Sales for Server Technology, discusses how PDUs and advancements in the PDU market is helping address the need for reusability and sustainability in the data center. 

In this week’s Voices of the Industry column,  Marc Cram, Director of Sales for Server Technology, discusses how PDUs and advancements in the PDU market have helped address the need for reusability and sustainability in the data center. 

Marc Cram, Director of Sales, Server Technology

Over the past ten years, efficiency has been a key driver in developing new data center designs and adopting new generations of hardware. Sustainability as a concept has not often been discussed in the context of the data center. Yet the rapid-fire change in workloads running within a data center often dictates that hardware and networks change along with the software. Implementing a dynamic mix of compute, storage, load balancers, and hardware-based accelerators requires frequent change in the IT infrastructure – racking and re-racking, cabling and re-cabling to reduce latencies, to improve airflow, and to gain efficiencies. During the course of these optimization efforts, the data center generates a veritable stream of e-waste – discarded cables, tie wraps, old hard drives, failed power supplies, obsolete motherboards and power distribution units (PDUs) that don’t have enough of the right outlets in the right place to power the next generation of systems.

To counter the problems associated with obsolescence, most data centers have resorted to various forms of “software defined everything” to allow them to virtually reconfigure for optimum throughput and extend the useful life of the infrastructure. Software defined networking and software defined storage are two examples of this. They enable existing hardware and systems to be re-used without being replaced. But the underlying infrastructure sometimes requires actual changes to the hardware – new servers and new drives to accommodate the dramatically increasing workloads. In that circumstance, achieving a degree of sustainability through re-use can be difficult to achieve. Recent innovations in the PDU market have helped address the need for reusability and sustainability. By combining C13 and C19 outlets into a single UL-certified Cx outlet for factor, the Server Technology HDOT Cx PDU enables rapid re-use and re-configuration of the IT rack.

Where a rack full of 1U servers might initially need a PDU fully populated with C13 outlets, a later densification effort incorporating a blade server chassis needing C19 outlets could see the existing Cx outlets go from accepting standard C14 plugs to C20 plugs without requiring adapter cords, saving the data center time, money, and effort while avoiding the need to replace the PDU. Through outlet level flexibility, the HDOT Cx PDU achieves sustainability and accommodates change without the need for “rip and replace,” thus avoiding another item entering the waste stream.

An HDOT Cx PDU is well-suited for:

  • dynamic data centers where frequent hardware change is occurring
  • lab environments where gear is brought for proof-of-concept or development
  • wherever outlet density and power density are both an issue
  • the rack level plan is not known until the last moment

As a brand of Legrand, Server Technology is committed to helping its data center customers be friendly to the environment through power efficiency and sustainability. Learn more about the benefits of the HDOT Cx PDU by visiting https://www.servertech.com/solutions/flexibility-hdotcx/.

 Marc Cram is Director of Sales for Server Technology, a brand of Legrand. Contract him at [email protected]or connect with Marc on LinkedIn.

About the Author

Voices of the Industry

Our Voice of the Industry feature showcases guest articles on thought leadership from sponsors of Data Center Frontier. For more information, see our Voices of the Industry description and guidelines.

Sponsored Recommendations

In this executive brief, we discuss the growing need for liquid cooling in data centers due to the increasing power demands of AI and high-performance computing. Discover how ...
AI hype has put data centers in the spotlight, sparking concerns over energy use—but they’re also key to a greener future. With renewable power and cutting-edge cooling, data ...
After a decade of stability, data center energy consumption is now set to surge—but can we change the trajectory? Discover how small efficiency gains could cut energy growth by...
Traditional data center power, cooling, and racks aren’t sufficient for GPU-based servers arranged in high-density AI clusters...

Adobe Stock, courtesy of Radix IoT
Source: Adobe Stock, courtesy of Radix IoT
Michael Skurla, co-founder of Radix IoT, explains how active, intelligent monitoring can extend data center lifespans while unlocking hidden capacity for AI innovation.

White Papers

Dcf Service Express Wp Cover 2021 12 17 9 16 03 232x300
Dec. 20, 2021
Service Express reveals the results of their survey of 700 US IT professionals in the 2022 Data Center & Infrastructure Report. Key findings reveal the continued need for strengthening...