Solar power and your network

JimmyD — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:58:31 +0000

I just finished an article written by Robin Lloyd, titled “Solar Power to Rule in 20 years.” Alternative energy sources have always been my passion, so I read on; maybe it would shed some light on the subject (lol – had to say it). Robin quotes Ray Kurzweil saying, “There is 10,000 times more sunlight than we need to meet 100 percent of our energy needs.” Can you imagine being able to generate all the electricity required to run your server room? Imagine being the person who brings this technology to your company?

I spent my lunch time researching my proof of concept design. I Googled Solar Panels and found everything from cool DIY YouTube videos to full service companies. Finding a package wouldn’t be that difficult. Monitoring the package and integrating its data into our current network would be a little more involved.

Monitoring the output of a solar panel can be done with the Ravica Power Monitor. The power monitor can read both 120v and 22v. With this monitor you are able to determine up/down state and measure voltage on a constant basis. With this data you can be alerted on the sensor exceeding a pre-defined threshold with industry leading notification options like: SNMP traps, email, SMS, MMS and the recently released Skype support. You can also use the data to trend the panels output.

I was done, a quick proof of concept that could work. Imagine being able to show your company how much the IT department is saving! It might be a dream now, but someday it will be reality. Bigger ideas have been planned on the back of a cocktail napkin. Mine was in a Google note book, so I am a step a head!

Did you notice that the price of oil is up again?

- Jimmy D

Temperature monitoring during the summer months

Jon Mills — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:20:44 +0000

Summer is nearly upon us, and with summer comes a natural rise in temperatures. It’s no secret that with global warming the Earth’s global surface temperature is expected to rise anywhere from 2.0 to 11.5 °F, during this century. Luckily for us, technology, although perhaps a major part of the initial problem in the first place, can help keep the the elements at bay.

More and more innovations are being made into maintaining data center environmental stability, like Sun’s new rack cooling door. While it is important to take the necessary steps in shaping the temperature, humidity and airflow appropriately for your computer rooms and data centers, it is just as important to have fail safes in place for when the environment inevitably strays outside recommended operating conditions. Whether its a faulty air conditioning unit or a blown electrical circuit, it is paramount to the integrity of the company’s critical business applications that a quality monitoring solution be in place.

Temperature monitoring solutions come in all shapes and sizes, but there are solutions for every company and every data center. Ravica offers environmental monitoring solutions that can help even the smallest company protect its hardware investments. Summer brings with it more than just higher temperatures. Many parts of the globe experience fluctuations in humidity as well. Not to mention that with high temperatures comes the need for air conditioning units to be more reliable and more effective. Ravica offers solutions to these other key problems with airflow monitoring sensors and humidity monitoring sensors. Whatever the particular needs are of your server closet, data center or computer room, you are sure to find a solution among Ravica’s line of intelligent environmental sensors.

- Jon Mills

Ravica Blog » global warming

Solar power and your network

Temperature monitoring during the summer months