Thank you for your inquiry about the SynapSense control system. You raise two important points: the first relates to the correctness/effectiveness of the SynapSense control product solution and the second relates to the safety of the wireless communication component of the solution. Let me address both of these points.
First the correctness issue. The SynapSense control system is designed for both energy efficiency and safe operation of a data center. It is designed to help data center operators manage distributed cooling resources as a single cooling resource that can then be effectively scheduled (manually or automatically) to the needs of the data center. The system provides feedback on the operational conditions of the floor and the cooling units. It monitors for changes in operational parameters, identifies both energy efficiency opportunities and safety conditions, and adapts the behavior of the cooling units to meet the cooling requirements of the floor. There is a fairly sophisticated graphical user interface for control system operation, automatic/manual control of devices, and visualization of high level metrics that characterize the operation of the data center.
As for the reliability, let me address the issue in a larger context. Reliability of any control system is an important concern. We have addressed this concern not only with respect to wireless sensing devices, but also within the larger context of the entire control system, which includes the communication infrastructure, the control system software, cooling units, etc. The SynapSense control system is designed so that it can adapt to failures in any of the control system components (through redundancy, algorithm design, etc.) , and provide the data center operators the ability to recover from these failures safely.
We will be happy to discuss these with you in detail if you are interested.
Dr Raju Pandey
CTO
SynapSense Corporation
Is your data center able to adapt to fluctuating operating conditions? Or, does it requires lots of human intervention to accommodate temperature changes and cooling needs triggered by dynamic workloads?
In the spirit of Darwin’s evolution theory — the species that can adapt seamlessly to new conditions are the ones that will carry on — SynapSense has come out with a new technology that adapts the fan energy and load depending on what’s going on with data center workloads.
One of the many companies targeting the data center cooling space with the goal of improving efficiency, SynapSense claims that its Adaptive Control approach can save up to 35 percent on typical cooling costs. It uses wireless sensors throughout the physical data center environment to manage the temperature set points and fan speeds of computer room handlers.
The big plug here is that this process is automated, so it doesn’t require manual intervention to make relevant adjustments. The technology is one piece of SynapSense’s planned enterprise-level operating platform for data centers.
The product announcement comes on the heels of SynapSense’s move to introduce a set of data center optimization services. These services include annual assessments that help you get a grip on airflow optimization, utility rebates that might be available, and so on. SynapSense said it helped a large financial institution (doesn’t name the reference account) find approximately 18 percent savings in the energy it used for cooling. It did this by identifying four of 15 computer room air-condition units that could be turned off.
So, as you’re turning off all those servers through virtualization, remember that your cooling technology needs to adapt, too.
