Raritan's New Branch Circuit Monitoring System Provides Fresh Insights on Data Center Power Capacity

SOMERSET, N.J., Dec. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Raritan, a leading provider of intelligent data center management and rack power distribution solutions, today introduced an all new Branch Circuit Monitoring (BCM) system that provides real-time views of electrical capacity and power usage in colocation and other data centers.  The new system supports real-time branch circuit monitoring at the panelboard, floor power distribution unit, remote power panel or overhead busway.

To monitor power consumption upstream from IT equipment racks, the new BCM leverages the technology of Raritan's third-generation intelligent rack PDUs.  Visibility into the entire power chain is vital to managing data center health.  For example, if a circuit's current approaches a breaker's limit, the BCM sends an alert to staff who can act to prevent a cascading failure. The BCM is also modular, meaning it can be scaled as and when needed, making it more cost effective than competitive solutions.

"Our BCM solution provides data center and facilities managers with real-time and historical views of electrical capacity and power usage on mains and branch circuits, in a panelboard, remote power panel or overhead busway," says David Wood, Director Power Business at Raritan.  "Whether you are retrofitting an existing facility, or planning for growth or new construction, Raritan's BCM system can help you reduce energy costs, track power usage, and prevent downtime."

For colocation data centers, BCM offers visibility into how much power their customers' equipment is using and helps enforce service level agreements (SLAs).  It measures KWh with ISO/SEC +/- 0.5% billing-grade accuracy.  It also collects data on: A, V, kW, kVA, and power factor.  The data is remotely accessible via a web-based interface, or locally on a high-resolution color display or tablet.

The system can easily be configured by uploading the panel schedule via USB stick, thus eliminating manual input errors.  Information gathered by the BCM system can be shared with a building management system (BMS) or data center infrastructure management (DCIM) power monitoring software, such as from Raritan partner, Sunbird Software. The BCM also supports environmental sensors for monitoring temperature and humidity.

The new easy-to-install modular system consists of power meter controllers (PMC), power metering modules (PMM), current transformers (CTs), and a variety of enclosures.  During installation, the system auto-senses the direction of CT installation and adjusts orientation to prevent costly mistakes requiring reinstallation.  There is no disruption to existing services because the current transformers can be snapped around live circuits without power to equipment racks being cut off.

What Customers and Partners Are Saying About Raritan's BCM

"The Raritan Branch Circuit Monitor will allow us to easily scale our monitoring solution to suit our rapidly changing needs without a large capital outlay. The BCM approach provides accurate insight on customer installations while preserving the line of demarcation between our equipment and our customer's equipment.  In short, we now have a complete picture of our power infrastructure." -- Paul Carr, Data Center Manager-Data Center Services at Unisys.

"We like the BCM kit because it's compact and easy to install and configure.  It provides many useful features that enable us to have full visibility over rack power consumption, available power capacity, and capacity thresholds.  It's as simple as that!" -- Aurel Vasilescu, Regional Datacenter Facility Development at T-Mobile Czech Republic.  

"Raritan's new BCM system brings a new level of accuracy and breadth of power information to colocation and legacy data center operators.  As a result, more data centers can benefit from monitoring real-time energy usage and rack capacity levels, and easily generate energy billing reports using Sunbird Power IQ® DCIM Monitoring software." -- James Cerwinski, Director at Sunbird Software.

Availability

The Raritan BCM is available worldwide starting today through Raritan's extensive reseller channel and distributors.  It is available as a branch circuit monitor (BCM) kit and busway monitor (BWM) kit.  The BCM is simple enough for a licensed electrician to install and configure.   Mounting options available include subfloor, wall mount, IT rack, and DIN rail.  For more information visit: www.raritan.com/BCM  

About Raritan 

Raritan, a Legrand Company, is a proven innovator of power management solutions and KVM-over-IP for data centers of all sizes.  In over 76 countries and 50,000 locations worldwide, Raritan's award-winning hardware solutions increase energy efficiency, improve reliability, and raise productivity.  For more information, visit us at Raritan.com or follow us on the Raritan blog.

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SOURCE Raritan

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