Netshield SA has announced that it has integrated its range of intelligent handles into its Smart Zero U Power Distribution Units (PDUs) as well as added additional IoT features to its PDU units.
This integration enables a customer to better track and monitor activity in a data centre, while at the same time providing a client with the visibility and monitoring capabilities woven into its Smart PDUs.
The addition of its handles is perfect for existing infrastructure where there is little to no control of a cabinet in a data centre. The Netshield intelligent handles replace an existing handle and add RFID, biometric or keypad capabilities to the point of entry.
When coupled with PDUs, clients can now create a dashboard for full visibility into access control within the data centre, alongside the environmental monitoring and management capabilities inherent on its PDUs.
“Infrastructure management is one of the biggest challenges facing IT,” said Inus Dreckmeyr, CEO at Netshield South Africa.
“While teams spend a lot of time ensuring that virtual machines are being spun up and that network connections are stable, the health and security of the actual infrastructure that our data and apps is housed on, is sometimes overlooked.
“At Netshield we have looked at ways on how to bring intelligence into the infrastructure of the datacentre, without a client having to rip and replace what they already have.
“Ultimately our Smart PDUs are a plug and play way for a client to get visibility and smart metering added to the data centre. They enable environmental monitoring and management and now with the integration of our intelligent handles, even provide for effective access control.”
With the units a client can monitor the exact consumption of a cabinet, track power management and environmental factors and gain insights into all of this through the Netshield IoT Interface, which has also been added as a feature to some of the products in its PDU range. Sensors such as temperature, humidity and flood monitoring sensors can be added depending on the nature of the site where a cabinet is housed, and user-defined alerts can be determined for each iteration.
Customers looking to deploy a Smart PDU are spoilt for choice with the Netshield range as the units are available in a no frills option (popular amongst large-scale Cloud Solution Providers), right through to smart metering units with either just SNMP capabilities or full integration into the Netshield IoT monitoring software interface.
According to Dreckmeyr, customers can customise their deployment throughout a data centre depending the needs of each cabinet. The company has even added the option of adding the Netshield Air conditioning Control Unit (Naccu) into the PDUs.
“Being able to set alerts, define security access and monitor the environment in a data centre ecosystem allows a customer to efficiently and effectively manage the infrastructure therein,” he said.
“This helps to lengthen the life of your infrastructure through energy optimisation and metering as well as ensure that possible disastrous events are stopped before they occur.
“Putting the intelligence into the actual infrastructure that is the very foundation of your data centre ensures the longevity of your equipment.”
The Smart PDU units also provide remote monitoring of current, voltage, power, energy usage and environmental conditions. As a result, users are warned of potential circuit overloads and nominal consumption increases. In addition, they offer remote power switching for emergency shutdowns or to reboot hanging servers and the intelligent handles can be retrofitted to a range of cabinets.
