Global revenue from rack power distribution units is forecast to grow 5.6 percent in 2015, according to a recently published report from IHS titled “Rack Power Distribution Units – 2015.” “This is twice as fast as the forecast unit shipment growth, highlighting the continued shift toward higher-priced rack PDU products,” IHS said.
“The shift occurs for several reasons,” the firm continued. “The growth of intelligent products, for example, is driven by the need to monitor power usage, report efficiency metrics, decrease power use in the data center, and enable capacity planning. Three-phase rack PDUs and those with higher power ratings also command higher prices. Increased adoption of these products is driven by increasing rack densities.”
Report author and IHS analyst Sarah McElroy observed, “While different regions of the world are at different stages in the adoption of the higher-priced product types, we do see an overall trend globally toward rack PDUs with intelligent features such as metering and switching and PDUs with higher power ratings.”
Last year intelligent PDUs accounted for 19 percent of unit shipments globally and 58 percent of revenue, IHS noted. They are forecast to grow more than twice as fast as non-intelligent rack PDUs, it added. Adoption rates are higher in the Americas and in Europe than they are in Africa and some parts of Asia. McElroy added, “The Middle East is an interesting market to keep an eye on because it is an emerging market for intelligent rack PDUs and has been adopting them faster than other developing regions.”