Sensicast Ships Industry-First Data Center Monitoring System
Wireless Sensor Network Monitoring Solution Increases Energy Efficiency, Safeguards Hardware Warranties, and Reduces Data Center
Sep. 6, 2007 12:00 PM
BOSTON, MA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 09/06/07 -- Sensicast
Systems®, the world's leading provider of turnkey wireless sensor
network systems, today announced the availability of a new end-to-end
SensiNet® system to monitor data center conditions. Designed with
extensive input from Sensicast's enterprise and carrier customers, the
SensiNet Data Center Monitoring solution has been optimized to deliver a
comprehensive wireless sensor system that can reduce energy usage while
increasing energy efficiency and savings, safeguard hardware warranties,
and avoid data center downtime.
SensiNet is an end-to-end wireless sensor network system that integrates
Sensicast-built hardware and software to seamlessly monitor environmental
conditions in data and communications centers. Sensicast ensures maximum
system reliability by helping to maintain a stable environment free from
dangerous fluctuations which lead to equipment and system failures and
inefficiencies. Sensicast Smart Sensors capture measurements from key areas
of concern -- including temperature, humidity, moisture, airflow, and power
-- and then wirelessly transmit the data to a SensiNet Gateway. The data is
then immediately available to in-house or Web-based software applications
and services. Data center operators can then choose whether to act, while
also tracking trends or using the data for reporting.
Energy Savings and Efficiency
As a participant in the Department of Energy's Save Energy Now campaign and its Industrial Technologies Program,
Sensicast and its technology innovations dovetail with governmental and
utility initiatives to help data centers to reduce their energy consumption
and realize energy savings.
"Improved data center energy efficiency could lead to a savings of 20
billion kWh per year by 2015, which is the equivalent of the annual
electricity use of 1.8 million American homes," said Paul Scheihing,
Technology Manager of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). See Scheihing's presentation on
"Creating Energy-Efficient Data Centers" at
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/saveenergynow/docs/doe_data_centers....
Sensicast's Data Center Monitoring system lets operators track, profile and
analyze data center energy use, giving them essential information for
Energy Savings Assessments and best practices which can lead to
opportunities to cut electricity demand.
Inside data centers, SensiNet thermal sensors can be placed in equipment
racks and special SensiNet "tethered" sensors can measure IT equipment skin
temperatures. SensiNet identifies "hot spots" and can generate automatic
alerts in the event of problems. Pre-configured software interfaces
connect SensiNet with building control automation software to manage HVAC
systems. Furthermore, SensiNet Smart Sensors can monitor the power
consumption of all data center equipment and transmit this data to existing
building control systems, which, when managed proactively, can generate
significant energy savings.
Compliance with Equipment Warranties and Service Level Agreements
SensiNet monitoring provides essential ongoing documentation of real-time
conditions in datacom facilities in order to comply with electronic
equipment manufacturers warranty agreements. Warranty terms covering
datacom equipment from leading manufacturers such as Cisco, Dell, HP and
IBM include language indicating that warranties may be void when products
are operated outside "published environmental specifications(1)" or in an
"unsuitable physical or operating environment(2)."
Through its ability to continually track and report temperature and other
facility conditions, SensiNet helps data center managers make necessary
environmental adjustments immediately while documenting that their IT
equipment has operated in accordance with manufacturers' recommendations.
Beyond its use for equipment warranty compliance, SensiNet also provides
support for Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for utility services providers
who offer hosting of Web, network, and SAAS (Software as a Service)
provisioning to other companies. A notable example of a current Sensicast
customer in this field is SAVVIS, Inc., one of the world's largest
providers of IP computing services.
Maximum Uptime
As long ago as 2001, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and
Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), cautioned that any equipment running
"outside its allowable operating environment risks catastrophic equipment
failure(3)." Monitoring the environment conditions in a computer room or
data center is critical to ensuring uptime and system reliability, and
avoiding the high cost of downtime. Gartner, Inc. estimates the average
hourly cost of downtime for a computer network at $42,000. At these costs,
even companies with 99.9% uptime lose hundreds of thousands of dollars each
year in unplanned downtime. Maintaining recommended temperature and
humidity levels in the data center can reduce unplanned downtime and save
companies thousands or even millions of dollars per year.
SensiNet monitors adverse environmental conditions that can cause downtime
including brownouts, voltage spikes, and sudden loss of HVAC. In addition,
support for historical reporting and data archiving makes it easy to spot
trends and evaluate off-hour operational conditions. Through its provision
for real-time alerts, alarms, escalation and data storage, Sensicast helps
to maintain the integrity, reliability and security of mission-critical
network, hosting and applications.
Sensicast provides turnkey Wireless Sensor Network systems that help
operating managers dramatically reduce costs, improve efficiency and
document compliance. Sensicast's patented, easy-to-deploy SensiNet®
systems capture real-time data from applications, processes, and facility
conditions and make the information available and actionable through
internal and remote Web-based access. SensiNet meets the needs of a wide
range of industrial and commercial enterprises -- including remote
monitoring of temperature, energy, moisture/humidity, and other data types;
while facilitating governmental/environmental compliance. For more
information: www.sensicast.com.
Sensicast and SensiNet are registered trademarks of Sensicast Systems, Inc.
All other marks are property
of their respective owners.
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