Data Center Power Monitoring – Smart or Easy or Both

Webster’s defines “easy” as: causing or involving little difficulty or discomfort; not difficult to endure or undergo.  It defines “smart” as: bright, shrewd, clever, neat, trim and intelligent.  It is also defined as: causing a sharp stinging!

Is Your Power Monitoring System Easy? – Can you send your most junior person out into the data center and trust that they will be able to install the necessary equipment without assistance from expensive resources such as electricians or network engineers?  And be certain that all functionality will work?  

Or, do you have to coordinate with facilities, schedule the electricians, tell your customers they are going to be down for an extended period while you tear apart your racks, modify power distribution panels, uninstall old equipment, install new equipment, configure the new equipment, assign IP addresses for the new equipment, integrate SNMP and dispose of the old equipment?

At Packet Power, we don't think it needs to be so complex, and we invest a lot of effort in providing a "plug and play" installation experience.  Just plug in our smart power cable and you are now gathering data for that circuit. 

Which do you think best fits Webster’s definition of “easy”?

Your Power Monitoring System May Be Smart. but Can You Talk to It? – All the various power monitoring vendors measure pretty much the same thing.  After all, there are only so many variables that make up your power consumption data.  But all that information isn't worth much if you can't easily use it.  So make sure of two things:  will your system provide power consumption data in real time on a 24x7 basis? And once you have the data, is it presented in ways that allow you to easily use it?

It Is Never Smart to Spend More than Is Needed  There are a number of systems that provide 24x7 data so in order to decide just how “smart” these systems are, let’s focus on the “shrewd” aspect of our definition of “smart”.  If you were to compare two systems that provide the same real-time, useful data but the cost of ownership for one is anyplace from 50% to 80% less than the other, which do you think is the “shrewdest” purchase?   And then ask yourself, “How shrewd am I?”  Are you comparing all of the costs associated with your new data center power monitoring system…Initial acquisition cost plus software costs, plus ongoing maintenance and support, plus installation costs, do I have to run copper to get Ethernet service to the new equipment and how much does that cost?  How much is it going to cost to dispose of old equipment?

Are you going to be “shrewd” and make sure you cover all the bases, or are you going to stick with what has got the job done in the past and as a result feel that “sharp stinging” definition we talked about before.

Can my power monitoring system be both “easy” and “smart”? – Absolutely.  Let us show you how you can get 21st century technology in an easy to install, easy to use, smart system.  Be shrewd and know all your options before you make any decisions on data center power monitoring systems.