Emerson Network Power (ENP) has launched a new family of rack power distribution units aimed at cutting costs by simplifying the integration and management of equipment. It says the racks alone could save a mid-sized data centre £6,400 a year on power bills and management.

The new MPH2 family of rack power distribution units (PDUs) offers one of the highest temperature tolerances in the industry, it claims, which could save on cooling and downtime costs. Its communications module (RPC2) raises the number of options for remote management and real-time monitoring, it says, which in turn gives managers more control over connected power loads. The cost effectiveness of IT managers will subsequently improve, as they can monitor, predict and manage changes in the data centre more efficiently, according Emerson.

The MPH2 system uses industry-standard management and authentication protocols so it should work with existing IT and communications networks, the vendor claims.

Emerson also claims that MPH2 has the lowest energy consumption of all switched rack PDU designs. Based on a comparison of switched rack PDU models for a typical 100 rack data centre with a PUE of 1.9, Emerson claims the MPH2 could create an annual cost savings of £64 per rack, which equates to £6,400 for a midsize 100 rack data centre.

One independent tester appeared to verify these claims. DfR said that it compared the switched model of MPHmanaged rack PDU with RPC2 modular communications with three unnamed ‘leading’ competitive rack PDUs.

“We tested several industry leading switched rack PDU solutions and found Emerson MPH2 to have the highest levels of availability and efficiency,” said Craig Hillman, CEO of DfR Solutions, an independent testing agency.