Electrical metering has become common in data centers over the last decade, and key for data center power management. Tracking power usage at the facility and component level can help avoid downtime, lower energy costs, and optimize equipment utilization. However, the cost of deploying metering throughout a facility has limited the scope of deployments and prevented most facilities from achieving the full potential benefits.
New multi-circuit metering systems (MCMS) can now provide advanced metering capabilities at a lower cost. In this whitepaper, we look at the evolution of metering and where the technology and market stand today, discuss the benefits and best-practices associated with metering deployment in a variety of data center environments, focus on key device attributes and why they matter, and describe how new advanced MCMS products provide a less expensive, easier to install, feature-rich metering solution.
With this information, data center organization will be better able to make decisions that will help reduce costs, increase energy efficiency, and prevent unplanned downtime throughout the data center lifecycle, and improve data center power management.