The many considerations that go into the design of a data centre include space, construction and operating sustainability, and future expandability. Another key factor is securing power feeds and distributing the electrical power within the facility. Here, Rack PDUs play a vital role in monitoring the IT devices health and power usage and electrical characteristics 24x7.

Basic Rack PDUs are power strips that distribute power to IT equipment within a rack. Some Basic models are available with built-in display and power meter power at the infeed and branch circuits and provide power data over a secure network, allowing DC managers to identify and monitor power consumption at the Rack level.

Intelligent Rack PDUs offer remote management capabilities of the IT devices they provide power to, such as the ability to turn off connected devices if they are not in use. The ability to remotely view and manage power usage helps lower costs, as well as makes it easier for DC operators to allocate costs to specific customers.

Unique power distribution needs
While off-the-shelf PDUs meet the power distribution requirements of most enterprises, there are circumstances where only custom Rack PDUs are up to the task. For example, if power needs increase but there’s not enough space for additional racks or PDUs and taller racks are not an option, custom Rack PDUs are the only practical solution.

The need for custom Rack PDUs can also arise when an enterprise wishes to standardise Rack PDU functionalities and design at Data Centers located in multiple countries, or has performance and power requirements that cannot be met by ready-made PDUs. The need for ongoing improvements in efficiency and sustainability also drives HPC (High Performance Compute) operators, AI (Artificial Intelligence) application users, hyperscale Data Centers and others with specific requirements to opt for custom Rack PDUs.

Besides its extensive range of more than 700 models – of off-the-shelf rack PDUs Raritan develops more than 200 new custom PDU designs every year. Customers that have turned to Raritan for custom Rack PDUs include Fortune 500 companies whose use cases include cloud and edge deployments and power-intensive AI and HPC applications. They include Seagate, Ericsson and eBay.

Enterprise use cases
Seagate and Ericsson, as part of their programs to standardise network protocols across worldwide Data Center footprints to be highly efficient and deploy new projects effectively, wanted unique Rack PDU architectures to be implemented and certified to work in North America and Europe. Raritan provided a new Rack PDU design based on an existing design that is able to accommodate both European and North American voltage standards, as well as ensured certification approval with agencies from both geographies.

As for eBay, it wanted any given rack to be capable of provisioning loads up to 55 kVA. This was difficult to achieve with 208V distribution, so Raritan designed a solution that allow significant cost efficiencies by extending 400V distribution all the way to each cabinet. With high-voltage power to each rack, eBay was able to minimise step-down transformation and transmission loss, gain significant cost efficiencies, and reduce copper utilisation.

As a leading producer of intelligent Rack PDUs with a sizeable pool of Certified Data Centre Design professionals, a commitment to finding practical solutions, and a global footprint, Raritan is well-positioned to engineer custom Rack PDUs for enterprises with unique Data Center power distribution requirements.