APC Announces TradeOff Tools

Tag : Power Tools
APC, a global leader in integrated critical power and coolingservices, today announced the debut of APC TradeOff Tools™,new Web-based applications with easy-to-use interfaces designed foruse in the early stages of data center concept and designdevelopment.
By enabling data center professionals to experiment with variousscenarios regarding virtualization, efficiency, power sizing,capital costs, and other key design issues, APC TradeOff Toolsbreak down major data center planning decisions into a series ofsmaller, more manageable decisions. Use of these tools helpsvalidate, through modeling, the overall design of a data center.
“Customers need to make many key decisions during any datacenter project, and they do not always have the necessaryinformation to guide them,” said Carl Cottuli, vice presidentof APC’s Data Center Science Center. “Many of theirconcerns are not addressed by configuration tools because theyoccur early in the concept selection process. With theintroduction of APC’s TradeOff Tools, when a roadblockarises, the data center decision maker can easily find a tool todeal with their specific issue, get a quick answer, and continue onin the concept selection process.”
Illustrates how changes to a data center’s location,efficiency, and power load can impact carbon dioxide emissions andthe electric bill. This provides management with a generalindication of how “green” their data center is todayand how “green” it could be.
Energy Efficiency Calculator
Profiles a data center and calculates the resulting efficiency andelectrical cost based on data center characteristics. Users canthen understand the impact each key data center decision has on thedata center’s efficiency.
Capital Cost Calculator
Identifies key data center physical infrastructure parameters andcalculates capital costs based on those parameters. This allowsdata center users to judge how changes to data center location, ITload, and cooling and power infrastructure can impact overallcapital costs.

Virtualization Energy Cost Calculator
Comprehends IT and physical infrastructure characteristics andcalculates energy savings resulting from the virtualization ofservers. This allows the user to test the impact of virtualizationand various physical infrastructure improvements on their datacenter floor space and on their energy consumption.

Power Sizing Calculator
Defines basic characteristics of the IT load and calculates howmuch utility input power would be required to support such a load. This provides users with a general idea of how much power inkilowatts they will need to run their data center.
InRow™ Containment Selector
Generates a prototype rack and row cooling configuration based onthe user’s preferences and the physical constraints of theroom. This provides the user with their optimal InRow coolingcontainment configuration.

AC vs. DC Calculator
Compares four different AC and DC power distribution architecturesand calculates their respective efficiencies. This allows the userto make an educated decision on the optimal architecture for theirdata center.
APC’s Data Center Science Center (DCSC) designed the APCTradeOff Tools. The DCSC team of engineers and analysts researchesdata center issues and helps develop design and learning tools thatassist data center professionals in managing their data centers.