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APC expands Enclosure and Rack Power Distribution Product Range for High Density Server and Networki

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APC by Schneider Electric, a global player in integrated critical power and cooling services, today announced that it has expanded the Enclosure and Rack Power Distribution product ranges, to enhance product options available to customers.

This expanded range available now from APC continues the leading innovation in all customer applications from wiring closets to small server rooms to large datacentres.

“Customer adoption of higher density server and blade applications plus the need for a more agile IT environment is driving power density at the rack level to higher levels and increasing the density and complexity of cable management within the rack environment“ said Peter Hannaford, Vice President, Business Development, Enterprise & Management Systems. “The expanded APC product range addresses power density and complex cable management to future-proof the datacentre so moves, adds and changes within the IT environment are seamless”.
 The enclosure line has added several new products:

• The AR3357 NetShelter SX model - a 48U, 750mm wide, 1200 mm deep form factor enclosure which addresses the need for extreme cable routing and maximised rack PDU space in server rooms and datacentres.

• The AR3104 NetShelter SX, a 24U enclosure which is 600 mm wide and 1070 mm deep perfectly suited to satellite offices where there is limited space to house EIA-310 equipment.

• The new Horizontal and Vertical Cable Management products that offer the same features of open frame vertical cable managers and mount into the existing 750mm wide NetShelter SX enclosures.
They are designed to be used with large switches and patch panels. 1U (AR8602) and 2U (AR8600) horizontal cable organisers with plastic fingers and covers will be offered in single sided versions and dual sided versions (AR8601) for high density patch panels to host approximately 250 data cables per side. Large capacity vertical cable managers (AR8650) and (AR8651) for 2 and 4 post open frame racks manage cables within each U space and have covers that provide a clean and organised look.

 • KoldLok® Raised Floor Grommets are new to the rack accessory product range. These preconfigured cable containment devices seal cable openings in a raised floor environment to help manage airflow. When a raised floor is penetrated, cold air leaks through, allowing the raised-floor plenum to lose air pressure. Pressure losses compromise datacentre cooling efficiency, driving the need for a reliable, effective solution—KoldLok Raised Floor Grommets.

The Rack Power Distribution Product Range has been enriched with:

• The new AP7856 metered rack PDU that addresses the need of customers who struggle to provide adequate power while maintaining space or cable management and access to removable blade components.

 The AP7856 is the first and only vertical mount Zero-U rack PDU available that permits full access to HP c-class blade hot-swap components when installed in a typical 600mm enclosure.


The metered rack PDU is a 22kW high-density 3-phase unit designed for blade applications and will support many customer applications demanding up to 4 each blade chassis requiring multiple C19 and C13s. It is a full height, 0U mounting PDU, allowing for the standard configuration of two PDUs per rack with space remaining for cabling needs.


Other benefits of the new metered rack PDU include the ability to access, configure and manage units from remote locations, a remote interface that enables full user configuration of alarms and warnings, the ability to operate in ambient environments of up to 60 degrees Celsius and colour-coded receptacle banks that provide easy visual indication of circuit connections for load balancing and build out.

• The Next Generation Rack Automatic Transfer Switch units.

They provide redundant power to single-corded equipment. Available in 1U and 2U configurations these units have built in network management and now include multiple receptacle outputs to eliminate the need for secondary rack PDU downstream of the rack ATS.

• A new In-Line Current Meter monitors current to devices in the datacentre including existing Basic Rack Power Distribution Units (PDUs) and freestanding equipment.


Three models are released, all 230 volt, 2 single-phase models, 16A and 32A plus a high density 3-phase 32A model. This gives users the opportunity to retro-fit metering to existing installations very simply providing reduced downtime during upgrades. Users do not have to scrap Basic rack PDUs in existing environments, which means lower additional cost than buying and installing new Metered PDUs. Similar to other APC intelligent PDUs the current meter allows seamless integration with APC InfraStruXure Central physical infrastructure management platform.

These products are all available in Europe, the Middle East and Africa from mid-July 2008 except for the AR3104 NetShelter SX which will be introduced by the end of August 2008.