Critical Power Coalition, Data Center Journal, and EDSA Team Up to Research Best Practices in Power Analytics

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (March 28, 2007) -- Three influential leaders in the emerging field of Power Analytics – the Critical Power Coalition (CPC), Data Center Journal, and EDSA – are joining forces to assess best practices in the design, construction, and maintenance of corporate and government data centers. As part of this initiative, five companies will receive a free Power Analytics assessment of their data center power infrastructure, valued at $32,000.

The alliance is the first to meld industry, corporate, and engineering user community influencers around the common goals of:

Understanding methodologies for the most effective data center power systems design and maintenance, based upon the current state-of-art tools;
Evaluating the effectiveness of new data center design, construction, and maintenance methods… and the barriers preventing such methods from being adopted on a more wide-spread basis; and
Compiling and promoting a common set of best practices in energy management to minimize operating costs for data centers.
“Power Analytics” refer to new software technologies that probe a facility’s electrical power infrastructure to detect and preempt conditions that, left undetected, could result in costly power problems. Since 80% of all power failures are the result of internal design, maintenance, or human error – and those problems, in turn, are responsible for 40% of all business downtime – Power Analytics is a powerful new technology for managing a complex electrical power infrastructure and maintaining business continuity and resilience.

Data centers are particularly vulnerable to electrical power problems, because of the combination of increased complexity and sensitivity of computer systems to power anomalies. This challenge is exacerbated by the deteriorating state of America’s utility-scale power infrastructure – due to undercapacity, age, and human factors.

“Many of us have watched the automotive industry add sophisticated computer-interfaces, sensors and software to ever-more-complex car engines to facilitate reliability and maintenance,” said Mark Mills, Co-Chair of the Critical Power Coalition. “Bringing this modern standard of operational transparency and reliability to extremely high-value, complex data-center power systems is long overdue. This Power Analytics project will help organizations better understand operational reliability and resilience in the heart of our digital economy.”

Program Details
Companies interested in participating in the program are encouraged to visit www.edsa.com/DCJ. The identity of all participants is completely confidential, as is any information they reveal to the review committee: the goal is not to publicize the vulnerabilities of any organization’s infrastructure, but to understand the best practices in design, construction, and maintenance methods.

At the conclusion of the effort, the CPC and Data Center Journal will publish their findings and recommendations and key trends (without revealing proprietary information from participants), as a blueprint to help data center owners and operators maintain maximum levels business continuity, increase site efficiency and cost-effectiveness, and adhere to the best-known practices in data center design, diagnostics, and preventative maintenance.

To support the research effort, EDSA, providers of the Paladin® Power Analytics software family, will donate five Power Analytics Feasibility Assessments (valued at $32,000 each) to selected participating companies. These on-site studies will be conducted by power systems design experts from EDSA; at the conclusion of the study the selected organizations will receive:

1. A power systems CAD model of their facility, built using EDSA’s Paladin DesignBase® software;
   
2. A professional assessment on the robustness of the facility design; and
3. An assessment of potential vulnerabilities found within the proposed design

About the Critical Power Coalition
The Critical Power Coalition (www.criticalpowercoalition.org) is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit association focused on the customer- and operator-centric challenges and solutions where electrical power is operationally critical in industry, government, and private sector organizations. The CPC works closely with related national organizations and its members include: Caterpillar, Inc.; Cummins Power Generation; MTU Detroit Diesel Power Generation; Digital Power Group; Eaton Corporation; Eaton Corporation/ Powerware Division; EDSA; EnerSys; EYP Mission Critical Facilities; Holder Construction; Liebert/ Emerson Electric; MGE UPS Systems; Power Management Concepts; S&C Electric Company; Siemens Energy & Automation; and Square D/Schneider Electric.

About Data Center Journal
The Data Center Journal is the only portal for the data center industry that provides information and services for the three groups that help make a data center successful: Information Technology, Facilities and Design. It addresses the issues that affect the daily operation, design and business of a data center, including in-depth coverage of hardware, telecommunications & network, mechanical, electrical, fire protection, security, architecture, monitoring, research, management, education, and technology/business strategies. Beyond serving more than 45,000 IT and operations executives per month on-line, Data Center Journal’s printed publications is read by 20,000 subscribers. For more information, visit: www.datacenterjournal.com

About EDSA Micro Corporation
EDSA is a privately-held developer of Power Analytics software solutions for the design, simulation, deployment, and preventative maintenance of complex electrical power systems. Founded in 1983, the Company’s Paladin® software products are used by thousands of commercial, industrial, governmental, and military customers worldwide, to protect more than $100 billion in customer assets. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., the Company’s worldwide operations include 30 sales, distribution, and support offices located throughout North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. For more information about EDSA and its products, visit www.edsa.com


For more information about EDSA and its products, visit www.edsa.com.

IFor more information, please contact:
Jim Neumann, EDSA
jneumann@edsa.com
858.675.9211 x212