Raritan Introduces Smart Data Center Rack Controller for Environment, Security, Energy, and Electronic Asset Management

SOMERSET, N.J., Sept. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Raritan today announced the Smart Rack Controller (EMX) that provides, in one place, key information on data center operations collected from many types of sensors -- including temperature, humidity, airflow, air pressure, smoke, water, and contact closure -- from cameras, and from Raritan's just-introduced intelligent, electronic asset tracking solution.

At a glance, operators can see if their data center is working at optimal temperature, monitor humidity and airflow in racks, locate a server's exact location, and see live views of the data center.  They can detect when a cabinet door is opened, see who has entered the data center, and be alerted if there is a problem -- such as smoke or a security breach.

Raritan's new Smart Rack Controller is an IP-based appliance that serves as a central connection point for all of Raritan's environmental sensors and USB-based devices for data centers.  Sensor readings can be viewed easily on the EMX LCD display, as well as with a remote Web browser.  Sensor and asset information gathered by the EMX also can be passed on to Raritan's Data Center Infrastructure Management software solutions -- dcTrack® for Asset, Change, and Capacity management and  Power IQ® for energy management and data center monitoring -- or existing third-party data center management tools.

"Raritan has been adding intelligence to the data center rack, starting several years ago with our intelligent PDUs for measuring energy usage at the individual IT device level; and more recently with our smart asset tracking solution," said Herman Chan, Director of Raritan's Energy Management Business.  "We believe that smart racks are the best way to get accurate, real-time information on infrastructure performance, so that customers can develop more efficient ways to manage their data centers and reduce costs.  With today's introduction of the EMX smart rack solution, we are providing the brain for pulling together the intelligence gathered by remote sensors for a more accurate and clearer picture on what is happening in and around IT equipment racks.  Working in conjunction with our dcTrack and Power IQ software solutions, customers can analyze and track sensor data across all data center racks globally."

According to Bob Hancock, President of Instor Solutions, Inc., who has worked with a number of Fortune 500 companies in deploying Raritan's intelligent infrastructure management solutions, "Customers choose Raritan solutions because they solve many of the top issues that today's data centers face, including controlling energy costs, maximizing rack capacity, asset management, improving operations uptime, and understanding carbon footprints.  Raritan's approach is simple -- provide easy-to-use smart tools to help data centers better understand what is happening in the rack -- and around the rack -- at any point in time, and to take action."

EMX Availability and Pricing

The EMX is available worldwide starting today in two models -- EMX2-111 and the EMX2-888 that support up to 16 sensors and up to 128 sensors respectively.  The manufacturer's suggested retail price starts at $375 (U.S.) for EMX2-111.

The EMX provides up to eight each of: RJ-12 1-Wire® sensors, RJ-45 RS-485 serial and RJ-45 asset sensor ports in a 1U form factor.  It has DB-9 modem/console, Ethernet, and USB-A and USB-B ports.  The EMX USB port can be used to connect a number of USB devices, such as Wi-Fi networking or a webcam to remotely view real-time images or video inside the data center.

In addition to supporting Raritan sensors, the EMX supports Raritan's new Smart Asset Management Tag/Sensor solution.  The first-of-its-kind solution tells operators exactly where a server is located in the data center and every move and change -- using ID chips and scannable ID barcodes.  The solution's sensor LED lights provide visual guidance among the racks to supports IT workers with equipment adds, moves, changes, reconfigurations and repairs.  A red blinking light, for example, can indicate a server maintenance request.

For more information on the EMX solution and Raritan's sensor portfolio, visit www.Raritan.com/rack-monitoring.

About Raritan

Raritan is a proven innovator of power management, infrastructure management, KVM and serial 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; energy management software; DCIM software solutions to effectively manage data center capacity, assets and change;  and KVM-over-IP and Serial-over-IP access 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 branch office operations.  Based in Somerset, N.J., Raritan has offices worldwide serving customers in 76 countries.  Visit us at Raritan.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 company was recognized by the EPA for its contribution to the agency's data center initiative.

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SOURCE Raritan