APC’s New Product Lineup Tames Power Use, Gives Vars A Boost Of Energy

With energy prices at near-record levels, American Power Conversion is hoping a new lineup of products will grab some attention and help channel partners convert a growing market need into new sales.

APC said it is launching new, high-density InfraStruXure systems that can scale up to 60kW per rack. The West Kingston, R.I.-based company said these are the first integrated systems that can scale to that load point.

The offering integrates APC’s InfraStruXure Manager technology, which is designed to monitor power functions and energy output throughout a thermodynamic cycle. It also features new InRow cooling technology, which focuses on removing heat from a data center rather than managing it there. While other technology providers, such as chip makers Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, have focused on delivering more power-efficient technology, Peter Klanian, APC’s North American director of partners and midmarket customer segment, said energy and thermal management in the data center are as critical as ever, given the state of energy prices.

“Even though they are making products more power-efficient, the heat- density issue continues going up,” Klanian said. “It’s worse. It’s something that really needs to be addressed.”

APC also announced new solutions for VoIP systems—where energy and thermal solutions were formerly dealt with by a telephone provider or communications professional but are now in the IT department’s domain—as well as systems for first-time data center deployments and data restructuring engagements. APC’s new product announcements are hitting the market at a time when energy efficiency is a front-and-center issue in the channel. Solution providers have said that over the past year, energy consulting has become a critical part of the overall solution. “[Energy consulting can be] a simple thing like walking in and talking to a customer who has 100 CRT monitors and telling them [that] doing something like putting LCDs on the desks will pay for itself in months,” said Todd Cameron, president of Kriterium, a Rochester, N.Y.-based solution provider and APC partner.

Cameron said his company has begun offering managed services to provide data centers with energy and cooling solutions, an approach that is gaining popularity. “We’re hearing from old customers as well as current customers who need a different approach to power,” he said.

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