Eaton reportedly has announced availability of the Eaton (News - Alert) Energy Management System Upgrade Kit.

 

Designed for the data center and facilities managers, the pre-tested, stand-alone solution helps the extension of sophisticated branch circuit monitoring capabilities to legacy and third-party power distribution equipment, according to the company.

 

The data center and facilities managers can use the EMS Upgrade Kit to gain three tiers of visibility within a single unit as it allows for power conditions to be monitored on individual breakers, breaker panels or at the equipment level.

 

Studies indicate that energy optimization has become a critical need in data centers where annual energy costs usually exceed $10 million. Also, cooling the equipment is becoming an almost unmanageable problem at these facilities.

 

A large number of data centers and other mission-critical facilities typically use a mix of older equipment and infrastructure from different vendors, according to Ed Komoski, vice president and general manager at Eaton’s Power Quality Division. With the EMS Upgrade Kit, users can unify the management of a diverse, multi-vendor power distribution system thanks to the extra layer of visibility and control added to distribution equipment.

 

Eaton officials say that the Kit allows facilities managers to proactively manage energy consumption. This prevents overload conditions, optimizes power distribution and allocates energy costs among internal departments when applicable.

 

The EMS Upgrade Kit also enables remote monitoring via the Power Xpert Gateway (News - Alert) Card, which links Eaton and third-party equipment to the local area network or Internet using Modbus TCP or SNMP. The solution allows the tracking and recording of additional energy parameters and Eaton claims it provide more standard features than competing branch circuit monitoring systems.

 

Eaton’s new Kit provides users with access to real-time and historical information for analysis, troubleshooting, power management, billing and energy planning.