Raritan Awarded Patent for Psychrometric Charts with Environmental Envelope Used in Its DCIM Solution to Manage Data Center Cooling

SOMERSET, N.J., Aug. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Raritan, a leading provider of data center infrastructure management (DCIM) and rack power distribution solutions, today announced that it was awarded patent US 8782213:  System and method for the application of psychrometric charts to data centers. 

The system and method is used in Raritan's Power IQ® DCIM Monitoring solution and enables data center operators to easily check the health of their data center's environment on a psychrometric chart.  A data center cabinet that is too hot can cause downtime, too cold wastes energy, too humid can cause condensation problems and too dry can cause static electrical discharge that can damage computing devices. 

Users can easily compare the real-time temperature and humidity data collected from environmental sensors in cabinets against the environmental envelope of target operating zones displayed on a psychrometric chart, ensuring optimal conditions for the operation of critical IT systems in compliance with guidelines, such as ASHRAE's (American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) guidelines. 

"Data Center Operators often find themselves balancing the need to conserve energy and reduce costs with the need to ensure proper environmental conditions for the computing devices within," said James Cerwinski, Director of DCIM Software at Raritan.  "But, they have lacked a system and method to safely and easily ensure optimal environmental management, and, therefore, have wasted cooling resources and been ineffective at preventing hotspots.  This has given rise to new data center environmental management technologies that some of the largest and most-advanced facilities are using." 

With Raritan's real-time DCIM monitoring tools -- with psychrometric charts and safe-zone environmental envelopes -- users can safely increase temperatures to obtain significant energy reduction while still maintaining a safe environment for equipment.  ASHRAE recommends average ambient temperatures for data centers between 64 degrees F and 80 degrees F.

"Raising your data center to these temperatures can be one of the fastest ways to save operating costs, as studies have shown that raising the ambient temperature by 1 degree F can save upward of 3% in energy costs," wrote David J. Cappuccio, managing vice president and chief of research for Gartner Research's Infrastructure teams.  (Gartner, Top 10 Techniques to Improve Data Center Cooling Efficiency, David J. Cappuccio, April 27, 2012, refreshed October 7, 2013.) 

Raritan's DCIM solution uses an integrated approach that relies on hardware and software to provide a complete picture of the environment at the rack, aisle, and facility level, and helps operators determine the highest threshold temperatures that can be set without posing a risk to critical devices and services.   It informs users if a data center or lab is within these environmental recommendations and how much energy could be saved by increasing temperature set points; alerts users if real-time temperature or humidity readings exceed threshold conditions; and, provides long-term trend charts. 

To learn more about Raritan's DCIM monitoring solution, visit www.raritanDCIM.com.

About Raritan

Raritan is a proven innovator of energy and infrastructure management solutions for data centers of all sizes.  In more than 50,000 locations worldwide, Raritan's award-winning hardware and software solutions – including intelligent rack PDUs and environment sensors; DCIM software; and KVM Switch products – provide IT and facility directors, managers and administrators with the control they need to increase power management efficiency, improve data center productivity and enhance operations.  Based in Somerset, N.J., Raritan has offices worldwide serving customers in 76 countries.  Visit us at Raritan.com, RaritanDCIM.com, or follow us on the Raritan blog. 

Raritan is an active member of the Green Grid, Climate Savers Computing Initiative, and the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design associations.  The EPA has recognized Raritan for its contribution to the agency's data center initiative.   A number of top industry analyst firms also have recognized the company:  Raritan was named a "Cool DCIM Vendor" by Gartner; a "Major DCIM player worldwide" by IDC; a "Strong Value DCIM Vendor" by EMA; and, "Key DCIM player" by TechNavio.  Raritan's DCIM solution also has won a number of awards.

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SOURCE Raritan