APCs Capacity Manager earns Gold Honours in SearchDataCenter.coms Products of the Year Awards

APC, a global leader in integrated critical power and cooling services, has announced that its Capacity Manager product received a Gold Award as one of the three best capacity and power management products released in 2007, according to Tech Targets SearchDataCenter.com 2007 Products of the Year awards.

Capacity Manager was chosen from a number of new products submitted for consideration to SearchDataCenter.com in eight categories. The editors of SearchDataCenter.com, in conjunction with a team of users, industry experts, analysts and consultants judged the awards. Judges selected the winning products from data centre products introduced, upgraded and shipped between October 31, 2006 and November 1, 2007.

Using live operating data on current space, cooling and power utilisation combined with the requirements of new servers and the available physical infrastructure, Capacity Manager calculates physical infrastructure capabilities, as well as consumption of space and power. This information enables users to determine how much data centre capacity is available, giving data centre managers a more efficient and quicker way to track resources.

Finding out you have a problem two months prior to having a problem is not soon enough. Capital planning and readiness takes nine to 18 months, so a system that gives us a trending method is a huge advantage for us, said one user of capacity planning software quoted in the SearchDataCenter.com award article.

With Capacity Managers unique modeling engine, combined with live operating data, it is now possible for data centre managers to simulate and predict the impact that resource changes in a data centre will have on the cooling and power infrastructure, said John DiPippo, APCs senior vice president of Data Center Solutions, Service and Software. It is critical that data centre professionals right-size the capacity supply with the capacity demand. With the trends towards increasing power densities, the likelihood that hot spots or power overloading will occur from data centre changes is driving the need for intelligent software applications such as Capacity Manager. Additionally, the softwares robust inventory management tool and complementary change workflow application give data centre managers unprecedented visibility and control of their data centre infrastructure.

About APC

In February 2007, APC and MGE UPS Systems combined to form a 2.4 billion ($3.5 billion) Critical Power and Cooling Services business unit of Schneider Electric. The Critical Power and Cooling Services division offers the industrys most comprehensive product and solution range for critical IT and process applications in industrial, enterprise, small and medium business and home environments. The companys solutions include APCs InfraStruXure data centre architecture, the industrys most comprehensive integrated power, cooling, and management solution.

The companys products also include APC and MGE-brand uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), along with APC-brand precision cooling units, racks, and design and management software. Backed by the industrys broadest service organisation and an industry leading R&D investment, the companys 12,000 employees help customers confront todays unprecedented power, cooling and management challenges. Schneider Electric, with 112,000 employees and operations in 190 countries, had 2007 annual sales of 17.3 billion ($25 billion).