To go along with the data center energy efficiency posts I have been writing in the last few weeks, I talked to RF Code earlier this week to find out what they have been up to recently. RF Code make wireless sensing devices which are proving quite popular lately in data centers.
I was speaking to Chad Riseling, RF Code’s VP of Worldwide Sales and he told me that a large portion of their 2010 growth came from their wireless environmental monitoring solutions. RF Code has wireless tags to monitor humidity, temperature, leak detection, PDU and CDU power usage (for certain vendors, as yet), (rack) door status and dry contact status.
The wireless sensors which RF Code sell, are roughly the size of a box of matches, they run off a battery which is rated to last around three years (and which starts alerting you about low battery status three months before the battery is depleted) and they have a range of mountings, including a peel and stick option, to facilitate easy deployment almost anywhere in a data center.
If you are wondering why a wireless solution is such a big deal, well think about the wireless internet network in your own home and how that has changed how you browse the net. Now you can access it anywhere in your home. Similarly, wireless sensors in a data center don’t need any extra cables to be rolled out for deployment and so can be installed quickly and relatively ubiquitously.
According to Chad, in a small 3,000 square foot data center, you could have up to 10,000 sensors being read by 3-4 readers and the data is handed off to the software stack, called Sensor Manager. Sensor manager can be used to track the data, or if companies have already invested in BMS or service management software, the data can be integrated with that.
One nice touch that RF Code have is that, in an homage to the Puppy Dog sales technique, they sell Starter Packs which contain sensors, readers and management software (enough to get you going, in other words) for as little as $2,995. If you are happy with the starter pack, you can simply buy more tags, readers, etc. to build out your solution.
Yesterday RF Code announced that they are launching a European Channel Program to grow beyond their current, predominantly US-based, market. Cool.
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Photo copyright RF Code
What’s that wire hanging out of the “wireless” sensor??? 😉
That is to connect the power sensors to the PDU’s – the other sensors (temp, humidity, etc.) have no wires whatsoever.
I know Tom – just being a bit cheeky about the choice of pictures. Cool technology, indeed. Thanks for the heads up.