Server Technology Announces Data Center Power Firmware Integration with IBM® Systems Director Active Energy Manager

RENO, Nev., Jan. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Server Technology, experts in producing the highest quality rack mount power distribution units and power monitoring solutions, today announced the integration of its new 6.1 rack mount power distribution unit (PDU) firmware with IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager Version 4.4. IBM's Active Energy Manager (AEM) measures, monitors and manages energy and environmental readings in the data center and has the capability of interfacing directly with IBM systems as well as power distribution units, uninterruptible power supplies, sensor networks and facility management applications. Server Technology's Per Outlet Power Sensing (POPS™) PDUs with the most recent 6.1 firmware, provide the most accurate and granular information available for data center power consumption, temperature and humidity.

"The integration effort to achieve this compatibility was minimal - which I believe is a testament to Server Technology's high-quality firmware and keen focus on backward compatibility," said Nathan Rabe, Staff Software Engineer, IBM Systems & Technology Group. "The integration of Server Tech's latest version of firmware in their entire line of intelligent PDUs allows IBM's Active Energy Manager customers to derive a wealth of highly accurate and granular power consumption data across their data center."

"We're pleased about this integration of our PDUs and new version of firmware with IBM's latest version of Active Energy Manager," said Mark Harris, vice president of marketing for Server Technology. "Data center power measurement, monitoring and trending information, combined with power management software, is what every data center professional needs to make key decisions about energy usage, cost savings and uptime. By continuing to partner with industry-leading energy and environmental monitoring companies to interface with their data center solutions, Active Energy Manager provides a more widespread and useful product for tracking and controlling energy usage. IBM knows that we are the market leader in PDU technology and our high quality units are reliable for 1,000 days – not just the first day-- and deliver the highest degree of accuracy," said Harris.

Server Technology has recently completed an independent evaluation of the accuracy of its PDUs based upon the recognized standard for power measurement, ANSI C12.1-2008. Server Technology contracted Underwriters Laboratories (UL) to conduct these tests which confirmed that the measurement capabilities contained within Server Technology's intelligent PDUs meet the ANSI C12.1-2008 as verified by UL. Customers can rely on Server Technology PDU products to deliver power under a wide range of conditions along with the industry's most accurate measurement results.

Server Technology's 6.1 firmware provides a number of key improvements over its previous releases.  The amount and granularity of power and current data retrievable from Server Technology PDUs featuring POPS has been expanded, benefitting users of AEM 4.4 by providing a more robust picture of energy consumption and environmental states in the data center.  There is also a new user-friendly interface with a Systems Summary dashboard giving customers an at-a-glance view of infeed power, current, load, temperature, humidity, CDU status and alerts. Other new 6.1 firmware upgrades include:

• Seamless interface integration with Server Technology's Sentry Power Manager power monitoring and measurement software
• Intuitive, easy to navigate system information
• Graphical color-coded slider bars
• Customizable configuration options for individual, group and system control
• Custom on/off/reboot for UPS events and auto recovery
• Graceful startup, shutdown options
• Smart UPS communication options

For more information, and to take a tour of Server Technology's 6.1 firmware featuring the new user-friendly interface, visit http://www.servertech.com/solutions/servertechfirmware

About Server Technology
Server Technology's experts produce the highest quality rack mount power distribution and monitoring solutions that help manage power capacity, reduce downtime and improve energy efficiency.  The leading innovator since 1984, Server Technology created the intelligent cabinet  PDU market and holds the largest number of patents in that industry. Serving the Data Center and Carrier markets, Server Technology offers the most extensive selection of cabinet PDUs to manage power usage for servers, storage and network equipment.  Based on the innovative Server Tech Quality Power Architecture (QPA), Sentry CDUs and Sentry Power Manager provide the industry's most accurate information to maximize rack density, reduce overloading and monitor energy efficiency. All Sentry CDUs are engineered and manufactured to meet the highest quality standards and are 100% performance tested for reliability and accuracy. Server Tech QPA eliminates single points of failure, reducing downtime and costs. The modular architecture is flexible and enables quick delivery of solutions that meet customer-specific requirements. Server Technology gives IT and Infrastructure Professionals the control to make accurate capacity planning decisions, reduce risks, and meet energy efficiency goals.

About IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager
IBM® Systems Director Active Energy Manager™ helps organizations effectively monitor and manage power and thermal usage of its IT environment. Active Energy Manager provides IT and Data Center managers with a single view of actual energy usage across systems, and facilities, within the data center. Organizations can utilize real-time, and historic, data to initiate actions improving resource utilization, availability, and service; while reducing energy consumption and cost.

SOURCE Server Technology