BT IT Systems future-proofs data centre assets with world’s first upgradeable PDU

In a world first, BT IT Systems is future-proofing its data centre assets with the industry’s first upgradeable PDU, the Enlogic EnPowered PDU. Recognising the current market split between the need for either intelligent or basic PDUs, alongside the barriers to technology procurement, Enlogic has developed and delivered the EnPowered PDU to give customers the best of both worlds – a highly engineered basic PDU with multiple benefits, which also allows customers to purchase a network management card (NMC) at a later date, to upgrade the PDU’s intelligence level.

This means that when a customer like BT IT Systems chooses to upgrade from basic, the initial purchase doesn’t become a ‘sunk cost’ for the business as Enlogic can simply install the ‘brain’ of the PDU – the NMC – in a couple of simple clicks, avoiding downtime and any lengthy change management or procurement processes. As no other direct competitors provide this ‘EnPowered’ ability on the market, this is a valuable asset for all businesses.

Customers using any PDU from Enlogic’s intelligent range will benefit from its hot swappable network management module, designed using distributed intelligence architecture, which allows for easy field replacement while the device remains powered and IT equipment keeps running. This is achieved by storing the PDU’s basic configurations on the chassis’ motherboard with only limited intelligence in the component. Hot swap could save up to 80 hours of change management ticketing when component delivery and installation are taken into account.

Steve Smith, regional data centre manager at BT IT Systems comments: “Enlogic’s fresh approach to the role the PDU can play has allowed me to improve efficiencies in my data centre whilst reducing cost. The flexibility surrounding the outlet types allows my business to drive my data centre and not the other way around.
“What's more, by understanding the change management process applied to businesses of our size, Enlogic's innovative hot swappable Network Management Card (NMC) not only reduces cost but also vast amounts of time in such a critical environment, as well as offering an upgrade path from the basic to full monitoring without any downtime,” Smith concludes.

Eddie Desouza, Global Communications and Marketing Director, comments: “Every aspect of Enlogic’s EnPowered PDUs have been designed to deliver to multiple stakeholders. Customers are consistently feeding back that while they made the decision to buy based on different USPs, the overall efficiency, design and operational benefits of the Enlogic PDU outstrip anything they’ve seen before.

“Data centre managers can use the Enlogic ‘EnPowered’ PDU as a stepping stone to create a highly intelligent monitoring environment when the business requires and can afford to make this change,” Desouza concludes.

Upgrading from an EnPowered to an intelligent PDU and using it together with a network management card (NMC) enables users to remotely access PDU information through an IP address. A single IP address can be used when daisy chaining up to four PDUs for manageability. The software allows data centre managers to be granular with the detail they obtain about their PDUs and data centre environment, offering precise updates on capacity, air flow and cooling.
The Enlogic ‘Enpowered’ PDU delivers the industry’s slimmest premium hydraulic magnetic circuit breakers which are unaffected by heat and allow equipment to run up to the highest temperatures without tripping. Data centre managers can set parameters on the PDU to alert them when it reaches a certain threshold unlike rival breakers which will trip without warning.

With space in the data centre at a premium, Enlogic’s entire range of PDUs (including the EnPowered PDU) are the slimmest in the world – up to 42mm slimmer than its closest competitor - at just 50mm. This means that installers can fit it into the rack with ease in comparison to larger alternatives. The slimmer size also negates the need to power down the PDU to provide maintenance on other servers, as it doesn’t obstruct any of the other components in the rack.