JouleX network power manager gets facelift, smartphone link

Atlanta-based power management technology company JouleX, which sells an agentless network energy manager by the same name, has updated its software (JouleX Energy Manager version 2.5) to offer better integrate with VMware and better support for Linux and Macintosh client computers. The company also has added a smartphone application that endows the software with smart, automated energy management features.

Here's a quick rundown of some of the new features:

• Native integration with the Cisco EnergyWise application programming interface, the Intel Data Center Manager/NodeManager, VMware vCenter, WinRM device, MAC power management and Active Directory Organizational Units
• Additional features for Linux and Macintosh computers (which are often overlooked by power management software for the enterprise)
• New "power hog" reports that will let you analyze the network-attached devices using the most energy within your organization. You can run emissions reports by location, assess the top 10 biggest power users, look at specific business units, and so on.
• JouleX Mobile, an application that runs on smartphones. Mark Davidson, chief sustainability officer at Joulex, says right now, it is a native iPhone application, but the company has also developed an HTML Android application that will work within a browser. Among other things, the software could be configured to automatically turn off your office lights and computer when you leave your office and turn it back on again when you return, using the global positioning satellite (GPS) information in your device to make decisions.

Like most software of its nature, the subscription for JouleX Energy Manager is priced according to the number of devices that it is being used to manage. However, company executives say a starting price might be $10,000 for a data center running 100 servers.