APC introduces web-based data centre

Global leader in integrated critical power and cooling services, APC by Schneider Electric, has simplified data centre decision making process by introducing web-based applications.

The vice president of APC’s Data Center Science Center, Carl Cottuli, announced the debut of APC TradeOff Tools, is a new web-based applications with easy-to-use interfaces designed for use in the early stages of data centre concept and design development.

According to Cottuli, by enabling data centre professionals to experiment with various scenarios regarding virtualization, efficiency, power sizing, capital costs, and other key design issues, APC TradeOff Tools break down major data centre planning decisions into a series of smaller, more manageable decisions. Use of these tools helps validate, through modeling, the overall design of a data centre.

“Customers need to make many key decisions during any data centre project, and they do not always have the necessary information to guide them,” Cottuli said, adding that many of their concerns are not addressed by configuration tools because they occur early in the concept selection process.

“With the introduction of APC’s TradeOff Tools, when a roadblock arises, the data centre decision maker can easily find a tool to deal with their specific issue, get a quick answer, and continue on in the concept selection process,” the VP said.

The seven tools, Cottuli said, are currently available on the http://tools.apc.com section of the APC Web site, carbon calculator, energy efficiency calculator, capital cost calculator, virtualization energy cost calculator, power sizing calculator, InRow containment selector, and AC vs. DC calculator.

Cottuli stressed that on the carbon calculator, illustrates how changes to a data centre’s location, efficiency, and power load could impact carbon dioxide emissions and the electric bill.

“This provides management with a general indication of how “green” their data centre is today and how “green” it could be,” Carl said.

The energy efficiency calculator, is profiled as a data centre and calculates the resulting efficiency and electrical cost based on data centre characteristics.

Users can then understand the impact each key data centre decision has on the data centre’s efficiency.

For the capital cost calculator, the identified key data centre physical infrastructure parameters and calculates capital costs based on those parameters.

“This allows data centre users to judge how changes to data centre location, IT load, and cooling and power infrastructure can impact overall capital costs,” Cottuli added.


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