GE has launched a new business line intended to help ensure power quality and uptime for crucial equipment during power disturbances and outages at major data centers. GE's new Critical Power business offers customers a power infrastructure solution from design to installation to after-market services.
Power leakage is a major issue at mainframe and large systems data sites, Jack Bohner, data center vertical leader for GE’s new Critical Power business, tells 5 Minute Briefing. “A typical legacy data center that has been in operation for more than five years consumes two watts of power for every watt of power that is delivered to the IT load,” he points out. “Newer data centers being built today are far more efficient, but still typically consume 1.2 to 1.5 watt for every watt delivered to IT.” Even the most efficient cloud data centers – such as the models used by Facebook and eBay – still have power leakage, he adds.
The drive to build in redundancy and high availability only consumes more power, Bohner says. “The data centers that consume the most power are Tier 3 and 4 configurations,” he says. “These data centers typically have completely redundant systems that have multiple electrical transformation in the chain. Although highly reliable, these data centers are not the most efficient.”
GE’s global Critical Power business includes power-switching products, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), DC energy systems and embedded power supplies such as board mounted power and front end rectifiers. Combining these solutions into a single unified business enables GE to serve the power needs of mission-critical applications, from the building infrastructure (UPS, switchgear or DC energy systems) to end devices, by working with original equipment manufacturers to provide overall power to the system and at the board level. These solutions help reduce energy consumption and minimize operating costs associated with supplying power to customer applications.
In addition to end-to-end products, GE’s Critical Power business also offers customers a service offering that provides global support and localized presence to flexibly meet individual customer needs.
To learn more about GE’s Critical Power business, visit www.geindustrial.com/criticalpower.