Software promises to manage data center power needs on the fly

It has been a very busy couple of weeks for enterprise developer Power Assure, which has just released what it calls Dynamic Power Optimization software. Basically the new software is an application that balances service capacity and performance needs with power consumption metrics. In real time. It builds on the company's existing power management technology, called Dynamic Power Management.

Aside from the releasing the new product and updating its existing offering, Power Assure has forged an integration relationship with Intel AND it has snagged some new funding from the venture arm of a prominent technology company focused on the utility sector.

Power Assure's new platform automates the features offered by the company's Dynamic Power Management software, which is intended to analyze ACTUAL server and infrastructure consumption and scale power accordingly. Jack Norris, the company's vice president of marketing, says the utility is designed to help encourage what he calls the "energy proportional data center."

He notes: "Many organizations are making decisions based on the theoretical power draw rather than the real power draw."

Features of the updated Dynamic Power Management module (version 3.5) include:

• "What-if" components that let you test different capacity, performance and power scenarios
• Support for more than 10,000 different technologies and devices from 500-plus vendors
• Application integration with widely used management solutions (for both technology infrastructure AND building infrastructure)

Features in the new Dynamic Power Optimization include:

• Runbook automation modules for servers, system management and building management infrastructure
• A virtualization manager that helps you manage the power consumption needs of virtualized techology, including VMware, Citrix, Zen and PowerVM environments

Clemen Pfeiffer, founder and CTO of Power Assure, says the Dynamic Power software is appropriate for data centers that are a minimum of between 5,000 and 10,000 square feet. "Commercially, if the space is too small, the energy savings aren't really going to be worth it," Pfeiffer says.

Pricing for a single module of Power Assure's Dynamic Power platform starts around $2,500 per month.

The software has already been selected by NASA, and the new release comes on the heels of Power Assure's disclosure of an integration relationship with Intel. The company's Dynamic Power Management software has now been integrated with the Intel Data Center Manager (Intel DCM). That integration will focus on power monitoring and policy implementation for Intel Intelligent Power Node Manager servers.

Power Assure also has raised $20.25 million in venture funds, including a new round of $1.5 million that it garned this week from ABB Technology Ventures. ABB develops and sells power and automation technologies to utility companies. Incidentally, I just noticed that ABB just signed a deal with General Motors to collaborate on electric vehicle battery research.

Whew.