Have you ever thought, "This crisp cold beer really reminds me of my uninterruptible power supply?" Well, the beer you drink and the UPS you use to power your data center are arguably of equal importance, and more of a science that one may think. Here are 9 ways the beer in your glass matches the UPS in your server room.

Demands on data centers are increasing, while the space and budgets for these facilities stagnates. As data center staff are forced to be more efficient, they turn to metered power distribution units (PDUs). A metered PDU offers the ability to conserve resources – money, personnel hours and space – at a granular level, freeing up staff to concentrate on more strategic tasks.

1.  Reduce cooling costs.
The cost for regulating a data center’s temperature can eat up an operating budget. Modern hot-air containment solutions help to reduce costs, but the lower operating temperatures for legacy rackmount PDUs mean they can only help so much. Newer metered rack PDUs have a higher operating temperature – up to 140°F/60°C – meaning a big cut to the cooling cost of your facility.

2.  Maximize space
Instead of requiring a dedicated infrastructure rack, a metered rack PDU is designed to utilize space that would otherwise go unused: vertically mounted inside or on the side of a server rack or enclosure. Not all vertically mounted metered PDUs are created equal, though. To make the best use of space, a rackmount PDU should have low-profile circuit breakers and a width optimized for side mounting to avoid interfering with access to hot-swap fans and power supplies.

3.  Prevent accidental disconnects
Downtime caused by a plug getting bumped out of place is an occurrence that happens too often in data centers. Most rack PDUs rely on external clops or cable trays to secure plugs. While those methods of prevention are effective, they require additional time from staff and represent an added cost. Next-generation metered rack PDUs offer built-in IEC outlet grips, which provide the same prevention without the need for proprietary power cords or bulky additions. 

The right metered PDU can provide all these resource-saving benefits. With the money, personnel power and space now available, your data center will be better able to meet changing computing demands.

Power distribution is facilitated through different pieces of equipment that take the power
conditioned by your uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and send it to your IT equipment.
Power distribution solutions can manage and even control energy consumption in smaller
environments as well as large data center applications.  Distributing power efficiently results
in reduced operating costs and increased reliability.

Rack power distribution units, also known as rack PDUs, are a key component to any IT environment.  They do exactly as the name suggests and distribute power to network equipment within racks.  A common misconception is that they’re just power strips, and at first glance, they even look like it, but modern rack PDUs provide benefits a simple power strip cannot.  Some of the valuable features include network connectivity, environmental monitoring and remote access, but we’ll get more into that later. This guide should help you get familiar with power distribution ,gain interesting insights and learn some key considerations for future IT investments.