HVAC, environment monitoring

Data centre managers looking for more precise tools to monitor and manage their operations have never had more choices. With C-level executives pressuring everyone in the organisation to identify opportunities to reduce cost, as well as risk, vendors that specialise in HVAC and environmental monitoring are increasingly being sought out for answers, says Avtech Software.

When protecting your data centre facilities, great hardware can only take you so far. Great software takes remote monitoring of the data centre environment to the next level.

To reinforce the importance of code, Avtech, a leading manufacturer of IT and facilities environment monitoring equipment (www.AVTECH.com), bundles licences for its PageR Enterprise and Device ManageR software with every environmental monitoring purchase.

PageR Enterprise provides a central event console that consolidates event information from a wide range of devices over local and global networks. Flexible notification tools allow the right people to be immediately contacted. Device ManageR automatically discovers, manages, logs, and graphs Avtech devices across the network.

"Avtech's objective is to make the monitoring and management of important facilities easier by providing powerful, easy-to-use hardware and software solutions that save organisations time and money while improving operational efficiency and preparedness and providing outstanding customer service and satisfaction," says Michael Sigourney, Avtech founder and senior product specialist. "Avtech is often referred to as one of the fastest-growing companies you've never heard of... until you need IT and facilities environment monitoring."

Avtech's solutions can monitor a broad range of environmental factors, including temperature, humidity, power, water/flood, smoke/fire, room entry, airflow, sound, and light. The company includes unlimited tech support, free replacement of failed products, and a commitment to ensuring that a real person will answer the phone within two rings. In a down economy, support like this is vital.

"Proactively monitoring the environments where expensive equipment is housed and being able to take automatic correct action if and when an issue or event does occur can save organisations tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost business, equipment repair, or replacement," says Sigourney.

Although data centres can be complex places, Harry Schechter, founder of Temperature@lert (www.TemperatureAlert.com), says the real answer to improved efficiency lies in simplicity. "Our USB and WiFi products do only one thing: They sense temperature and report alarms via e-mail," Schechter says. "They're designed to be set up in minutes so data centre managers can get back to the important stuff they do."

According to Schechter, traditional approaches to data centre temperature management often fall short because they are not precise enough to identify small hotspots. "You have to be able to see temperature differentials in many places within your facility," he says. "This might help you see, for example, if airflow has been inadvertently blocked by a technician. You may think that everything is in good shape, but all it takes is for one cabinet vent to get blocked and then servers start going down."

Large numbers of inexpensive sensors give data centre managers better vision than ever before. This solution was driven by necessity. "A couple of us were running data centres about 10 years ago, and there was nothing inexpensive to see what was going on," says Schechter. "So we designed a simple circuit and started using it ourselves. Then we started hearing from other people that they had a need for this, too."

To this day, Temperature@lert retains a tight connection between its engineers and its customers. "We know of no other company selling solutions at this level that puts engineers directly in touch with customers," Schechter says. "But it is where we connect with customers that our best ideas come from."

When you're looking for portable data centre environmental control solutions, one phone call to any distributor will usually lead to a delivery. Support and guidance may not be included, however.

"We are one of the few distributors that actually provides service, as well," says Rob Atkocaitis, national accounts manager for Atlas Sales & Rentals (www.AtlasSales.com). "We don't just deliver the units and set them up. We'll also run condensate lines and spend time with them to ensure they're getting exactly what they need."

The firm's delivery people are trained to provide this extra level of support. Unlike many competitors, its branch offices are also stocking locations, which minimises turnaround times.

Atlas is the largest independently owned distributor of portable air conditioning and heating units in the country. That independence allows Atlas to minimise overhead, which Atkocaitis says gives it greater price flexibility. But even price isn't always enough.

"Our biggest feature is that we care about what our customers' needs are," says Atkocaitis. "We walk them through the entire process to find out their needs and understand what they're trying to accomplish. Then we tell them exactly how to do that."

It's an issue that's never been more important for IT. "In the past, air conditioning was often seen as a luxury, not a necessity," says Atkocaitis. "Today in IT, it is an absolute necessity. You stand to lose a lot of valuable data if the temperature in your data centre climbs over 85 [degrees Fahrenheit]"

Written By Carmi Levy - Processor Vol. 31 Issue 3.