Data Center Avoids Power Build-Out with Dynamic Cooling Management

Avnet deployed Vigilent cooling management technology in a 13,000-sq-foot data center as part of an initiative to conserve energy at its 25-year-old facility. The cooling-related energy savings allowed Avnet to avoid a multi-million dollar power build-out to the data center.

As part of this project, Avnet used Vigilent to gain a more granular understanding of cooling throughout the data center floor, maintain consistent temperatures, improve cooling redundancy and automatically control computer room air conditioners (CRACs) for maximum efficiency. Vigilent uses artificial intelligence and direct control to dynamically manage data center cooling resources to meet real-time demand.

The Vigilent system automatically adjusts cooling resources to match IT load in real time, eliminating CRAC “fighting” (simultaneous heating and cooling), and turning redundant CRACs off or down to ensure that consistent temperatures are maintained within desired thresholds.

Within Avnet, the Vigilent system integrates with CA Technologies’ ecoMeter DCIM front-end to provide real-time information about CRAC power use. Avnet consolidates its energy power use for efficiency analysis and reporting.

As a result of the success of its overall IT energy conservation initiative, Avnet was awarded the 2013 Green Enterprise IT Award in the IT Retrofit category by the Uptime Institute.