In this agreement, CUI will design, manufacture and distribute the hardware component of the ICE (Intelligent Control of Energy) system, said to be the only solution for intelligent power utilisation available today. The ICE Block hardware is managed and controlled through the ICE Platform, an integrated suite of software developed by VPS.
This partnership between the two organisations is the first step in creating a larger Software Defined Power ecosystem, from board level to system level, ultimately creating an intelligent, efficient data centre infrastructure.
Through numerous surveys and studies, data centre power consistently emerges as the most critical area that needs to be addressed to support the growth of the Internet of Things, mobile, and supporting infrastructure. Even the best designed data centres waste more than 75% of their available power and infrastructure as servers sit idle. ICE is claimed to double power and server utilisation while reducing total cost of ownership by up to 50%.
“We see VPS’s technology as a difference maker for the data centre, but we also see value in other markets going forward,” said Matt McKenzie, president of CUI. “A true Software Defined Power ecosystem requires a collaborative effort, and our partnership with VPS is the first of many we will look to so we can continue to support this space in new and innovative ways.”
An existing data centre can see up to a 15 to 25% reduction in power cost coupled with the avoidance of 40 to 60% of conventional capex investment with the combined ICE system as it fits into the available rack system, saving space. In addition, this infrastructure will enable data centres to continue their growth paths via a solution that can be installed and initialised in just days rather than the months required with traditional approaches.
The ICE Power Cache is a fully-redundant, hot-swappable power supply that controls power use in real time. It features lithium iron battery modules that can keep an entire rack running for up to seven minutes at full load if power is lost.
The unit uses machine learning to flatten power peaks during periods of high utilisation in real time, deliver power when needed, store it when it’s not and dynamically managing the peaks and valleys of demand, resulting in higher performance.
Shankar Ramamurthy, CEO of VPS, said: “VPS needed a partner that could move quickly, understood the value of Software Defined Power, and had the design capabilities required to develop the hardware that could mate with our innovative software. CUI became the logical choice as our hardware partner.”
Ramamurthy added that data centre operators “can immediately start benefitting after installing the ICE system, experiencing improvements in operational flexibility, utilisation, and management with little intervention required.”
