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April 10, 2009
• Vol.31 Issue 12
Page(s) 21 in print issue
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Green-Savvy Power Distribution
A-Neutronics Product Displays Amps, Volts, Watts & More
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Jump to first occurrence of: [WEISMAN]
 IT professionals know they need power equipment that, at the very least, can handle the power today’s servers and other network appliances require, take up minimal space, and offer easy access to various devices.
1U rack power strips are becoming the standard to satisfy most small to midsized enterprises’ needs, says Blane Warrene, director of technology solutions at business services provider CBIZ (www.cbiz.com). “They are more common now than ever before. For years [power strips] have been major space hogs, and the market has responded well to IT manager needs,” Warrene says.
Frisco, Texas,-based A-Neutronics (www.a-neutronics.com) originally bought other manufacturers’ power strips, typically overstock or discontinued items, to resell. Now, the company has begun engineering its own power devices and for several years has exclusively sold its manufactured units, including its unique 17-Outlet 19” Rack Mount with LCD Display (15AMP) model, also known as the MS1917-LCD.
 Being Green, Saving Green
 The MS1917-LCD provides users with green-savvy functionality, most notably its built-in power meter that shows amps, volts, VA, watts, power factor, frequency, kilowatts, and kW per hour on its LCD screen. In addition, the LCD volt meter tells users how much power the MS1917-LCD is drawing for already-connected equipment before they plug in additional devices.
James Jobin, president of A-Neutronics, says the MS1917-LCD is the only power strip in the marketplace that provides users with eight different values related to AC power. “If you are going green, you can measure your current power consumption, and as you start to add more energy-efficient devices, you can take accurate readings and see what that savings is,” Jobin says.
The MS1917-LCD has been on the market for more than six years, Jobin says. Although at that time green technology was not the catchphrase it is today, enterprises were still monitoring their power consumption. Customers leasing out space in colocation facilities were early, avid purchasers of the MS1917-LCD.
“Customers in colocation facilities pay somebody for a certain amount of power and for rack space. It’s important for those clients to know how much power they’re actually consuming, because if they get to a certain threshold, they can start tripping breakers, servers go off, and—boom—they start losing revenue,” Jobin says.
Warrene says that the greening of the data center and server rooms has influenced the design and features of today’s PDUs. But Warrene points out that this greening of the data center is not just a matter of being environmentally sensitive.
 “It is also looking at the bottom line,” Warrene says. “As vendors provide green applications for hardware tools, IT managers will use them if it aids them in cutting space, minimizing heat [leading to] lower AC control costs, and lessening power consumption.”
Dummy-Proofed
In addition to the built-in meters and LCD screens, the MS1917-LCD offers a number of other useful features. It comes with 17 UL-approved outlets, the maximum that can fit in a 1U rackspace unit. The LCD screen is backlit, so it remains illuminated even in a darkened server environment. The power switch also is illuminated and has a safety cover on it.
Moreover, the MS1917-LCD is dummy-proofed, Jobin says. “There are no settings for the end user to change or mess with,” Jobin says. “You just get up and cycle through different readings on the front panel.”
Warrene concurs, adding, “Not only does the LCD announce power consumption so IT staff can determine if there is capacity to add to the device prior to plugging in, its latching safety eliminates the risk of accidental power cycles, and the plugs are also easily accessible on the front and back of the device for limiting the time an IT staffer needs [her] hands in the server racks,” Warrene says.
Worth The Extra Cost
The list price for the MS1917-LCD is $199, although it is currently on sale for $149. Warrene acknowledges that the unit’s price is slightly higher than the general average for 1U power strips. However, Warrene says the additional cost is warranted because the MS1917-LCD’s feature set enables it to outperform most of its peers.
“The MS1917-LCD brings some of the features of higher-end units used in large data centers and makes it an accessible hardware alternative at a reasonable price for the SME,” says Warrene. “If [SMEs] are considering green initiatives, this power distribution unit is an economical way to get started with server racks.” 
by Robyn Weisman
Contact
A-Neutronics 17-Outlet 19” Rack Mount with LCD Display (15AMP) [MS1917-LCD]
(877) 263-8876
www.a-neutronics.com
Description: A UL-approved 1U AC PDU that provides users with 10 rear-facing outlets and seven front-facing outlets. Comes with a backlit LCD screen that indicates the volts, kilowatts, amps, and other values being used by connected devices.
Interesting Fact: According to A-Neutronics President James Jobin, A-Neutronics was originally named Neutronics when the company was founded more than 30 years ago. “Then somebody said, ‘Look at the Yellow Pages listing.’ However many A’s you put in front of your name makes it show up first, so we added the A so that we would be listed first in most listings,” Jobin says. |
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