Chatsworth Products (CPI), a power and infrastructure solutions innovator for the information and communications technology (ICT) and industrial automation segments, has unveiled significant enhancements to its award-winning eConnect line of Power Distribution Units (PDUs) during the 2020 BICSI Winter Conference & Exhibition in Tampa, FL, being held this week from Feb. 9–13.
Since its release in 2012, CPI notes that its eConnect PDU offering "has progressively contributed to the industry with intelligent rack power distribution and unprecedented features such as a market-leading high temperature rating of 149° F (65° C), the Secure Array IP consolidation technology, and software electronic access control integration with environmental monitoring and RFID Electronic Locks."
The company adds that the newly announced features of the eConnect PDUs provide improved, data-driven rack-level monitoring in data centers and remote sites. Noteworthy enhancements to the platform include greater outlet density; the latest UL 62368 compliance, which is a new 2020 listing requirement for the United States and European Union; and a Redundancy Pack option— an industry-first—which includes two PDUs, one in black and one in Glacier White, for easy identification of the primary and secondary (failover) unit - all under one part number.
The eConnect PDUs' Secure Array IP consolidation of up to 48 units under one IP address, with the option for a second one for failover support, can reduce networking costs by 90%, contends the company. New phase-balance outlets on the series' three-phase models simplifies equal loading across all phases. Integrated environmental sensors provide notifications of hot spots within cabinets. Integrated RFID electronic locks provide managed cabinet-level access control.
The units' new field-replaceable controller enables easy serviceability and upgradeability while maintaining power to critical loads. Bistable latching relays result in reduced energy consumption and increased service reliability on switched PDU models. New, patent-pending locking outlets prevent accidental disconnections without requiring special cords (that can cost upwards of $200 per PDU, notes CPI).
“As the enterprise data center space gravitates toward multitenant and edge compute locations, our customers demand solutions that can allow their sites to be up and running quickly and reliably,” explains Ashish Moondra, Sr. Product Manager, Power, Electronics & Software, at CPI. “To that end, CPI has focused on capabilities that provide high availability while reducing the complexity of installing, networking, servicing and managing the power distribution solutions.”
New native software integration from eConnect PDU partners includes Sunbird Software, ZPE Systems, and RF Code's Power IQ for eConnect, Nodegrid Manager, and Centerscape tools. Also new to the eConnect PDU feature set is support for RESTful Application Programming Interface and Command Line Interface protocols, the availability of TAA-compliant models for the federal segment.
CPI's Moondra concludes, "The interconnected world is placing new demands on power management in data centers, and with rack densities rising globally, equipment monitoring at the rack level has never been so critical. The eConnect PDUs provide data center managers with all the information they need to make informed decisions when it comes to capacity planning, rapid deployment, reduced networking costs and regulatory compliance. Now, the new and enhanced features add more simplicity and efficiency to power distribution, while setting customers up for success as new compliance requirements go into effect in the new decade."