Staco Energy – 2011 Year In Review

Nov 292011
 
Our “A New Dawn” 75th Anniversary Celebration

Staco Energy Enters into “A New Dawn” 75th Anniversary.

Time sure flies when you are busy – and our engineering, marketing, and sales teams have been busy over the past year.  Rather than rest on our laurels, we are charging into “A New Dawn” 75th anniversary by launching major new products tailored to the unique needs of specific industries.  These products keep critical customer components operating at all times – and with less cost – giving you, our customers, a competitive advantage.  A brief recap of these many marketing and product development activities follows:

 

 

 

FirstLine P 65-125kVA Three Phase Online UPS models

This 480V Three Phase Online UPS family was introduced in January 2011 and is proving to be very popular.  It covers a wide input voltage range – 480V +/- 10% making it ideal for SMB data center applications where affordability, efficiency, reliability, availability, and flexibility are essential. The 65kVA model, added in October, is our latest addition.

 

 

 


FirstLine PL 10-100kVA Three Phase Online UPS models

To address the needs of 208V installations, we introduced this UPS family in January 2011 – which has been well accepted.  It covers a wide input voltage range – 208V +/- 10% making it ideal for many applications – including network closets, computer rooms, and small data centers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

FirstLine BMS Wireless Battery Monitoring System

Launched in February, 2011, this uniquely wireless easy-to-install product is an ideal complement to the FirstLine P,  FirstLine PL, and can be deployed with all battery types and applications, both new installs and retrofits.

 

 

 

Staco’s Total SMB Data Center Solutions

All of the above have created a platform foundation for providing tailored SMB solutions for IT network closets, computer rooms, and small data centers.

 

StacoVAR mini

Launched in August, our newest addition to the StacoVAR product family, allows customers to use their supplied power more efficiently.  In addition, we re-launched our Fixed Capacitor banks.   Editors also saw the value in these programs – as they provided in-depth editorial coverage including “The Economics of Improving Power Factor” in Consulting/Specifying Engineer, and “Go Green with PFC” which ran in the August issue of Electrical Line magazine

Our Online Home – www.stacoenergy.com

Completely re-invented, check out our new online tools – including easier product and industry solutions search, more detailed information on products, applications, news, all intended to maximize the access to information in the least amount of time.

Published Articles

Our thought leadership in this “Staco Universe” market was augmented by the Broadcast Engineering article “Backup Power, Find out What Type of UPS System is Best for Your Facility”, Processor “Powering Your Data Center’s Future”, August, “Pinpoint Energy Hogs” October, and “Buying UPSs” November.  Our latest is the Distributed Energy “Is Poor Power Factor Correction Costing You Money” November/December edition article.  All are posted to News, Articles and Testimonials.

Channel Development

To help take our new products and services to the market, we’ve bolstered our rep/distributor network through a combination of recruitment and inbound requests.  We continue to provide training through webinars, field visits and application-specific industry experts who are available as needed to support our channel partners and customers.

 

Communications and Social Media

We have created a new Power Quality Connect blog, e-newsletter, and VIP registration, including social media connections to Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin,  all targeted at extending our brand reach.

Clearly it has been a busy year – and a good one.  As we enter into our “A New Dawn” 75th Anniversary, we’re better prepared than ever to provide tailored power solutions to customers in a wide array of industries.  Our broad range of products – including Voltage Control, Uninterruptible Power Supplies, and Power Factor & Harmonics – allows us to serve the diverse needs of our customers.

To stay in touch please join our Power Quality Connect VIP List, click on this link and enter your email address:

http://www.stacoenergy.com/newsletter.htm

 

IT and Facilities – Bridging the Gap

Nov 282011
 

Open Communications between IT and Facilities is Important

Communications and understanding of the divergent objectives of both facilities and IT management are best described as two sides of the same fence.  On one side, IT is pressured by eternal forces to deliver service levels, compliance, energy costs and cost control.  IT internal forces include high density, virtualization, intelligent infrastructure, and capacity utilization. On the other side, facility management is focused on building infrastructure, essential services, production equipment, and maintenance.

The handshake by both over the top of the fence requires a better understanding by facilities of the special needs of IT, and IT needs to respect the facility skill sets that ultimately can provide an optimized result.

Keys to Success

Both IT and facility management share common needs, which should be reinforced by the development of both short and long range business planning as a requirement, where executive management provides the framework and environment that requires effective integration of their dependent goals and objectives.

Unfortunately, both IT and facilities are prone to traditional thoughts and behavior.  Both should take the time to truly understand the special needs of IT, which is divergent from the normal operational needs for the rest of the business. By taking the time to create understanding up front, IT architects and operations planners can join efforts, with a far more optimized result.

Common Barriers

IT faces tight operating budgets, and often lacks executive support. Facilities management should be an advocate for IT, and make sure management knows what is required to support IT needs. Facility management should be aware of what is required for designing and maintaining technology infrastructure.  Do not begin with the expectation that IT will know what it will take to protect their systems. IT administrators often are narrowly focused on technology, and need the support of facilities to recognize potential problems and needs upfront.

A common pitfall, which is a key to understanding, communications, made more difficult by educational backgrounds, IT and liberal arts, and facilities and engineering are often two separate ways to interact. Care should be taken to focus on
common needs, not to try to compete for position.  Poor relationships and communication barriers will only serve to stand in way of effectively working together.

Methodology

There are a variety of process-driven methodologies, one of the most robust is ITIL V3, which is a roadmap for the steps and processes that are required.  Software based programs exist in a variety of formats. Nothing should be a substitute or excuse not to engage in formal business planning, both short and long term.  The time spent here will most certainly pay dividends.

The costs will depend on methodology.  Training in the use of formal tools is essential, when utilized.  Ongoing communications during the business planning process is key.  The benefits will far outpace the time and energy expended.  A major catastrophic event can take weeks or months to recover, and may well result in a threat to the very existence of the enterprise.

Summary

The opportunity for IT and Facilities to meet on common ground without compromising their core focus is possible without having to tear down the fence, have the kids play daily, and watch football together on weekends. The payback result to the enterprise, as well as those who take this leap of faith, is a game changer.

To stay in touch please join our Power Quality Connect VIP List, click on this link and enter your email address:

http://www.stacoenergy.com/newsletter.htm

 

 

 

Eliminating Energy Hogs in Your Data Center

Oct 312011
 

When considering timing for optimizing energy use, seize the opportunity during your data center consolidations. Although this is a complex and daunting task, including several key requirements can result in huge improvements in the use of energy.

Insure energy efficient practices for your power infrastructure. Your power chain starts with utility, switch gear, UPS and related auxiliary equipment, backed up by batteries and generators, all consumers of energy. Consider all of these components, and size each to insure all are optimized for capacity and operation.  Calculate your capacity to match the resulting expected loading, taking into consideration your estimated improvement in energy efficiency improvement efforts.

While you align your power infrastrucutre, seek out experts that understand the dynamics of both optimizing and sizing for maximum effieciency.  Staco Energy Products offers specialists in providing tailored power solutions that deliver maximum efficiency and cost effiective results.

When taking your inventory of servers, and other IT equipment, make sure you measure the loading for each, as well as age and operating characteristics. Align your plans with efficiency and loading.

Remove legacy gear and replace them where possible.  Change in IT equipment happen so frequently, it has become difficult to track what IT equipment is actually being used.  The benefit of identifying and removing these servers and other IT equipment is energy savings 2 times the IT load you are removing (2X because you also gain savings from reduced cooling load).

Decommission where possible, while virtualizing others.  During this phase, consider age.  Legacy “Energy Hog” IT equipment should be replaced, where possible, with Energy Star rated gear.  Not all applications are targets for virtualization.  Be certain to take advantage of those that are.

The potential resulting savings may shock you!  Larry M. Beck, Data Center Facilities Manager, Pope Technology Center, Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Alabama is leading a consolidation of operations to a new data center in Birmingham.  This is a real world example of both energy efficient practices, and ROI, where many, if not all of the above were implemented. ‘We were expecting about a 400 KW load upon completing migration into our new data center.  We are currently about 85 to 90 percent complete with the migration and our load is only about 160 KW.  We do not expect loads to exceed 200 KW when migration is complete.  I feel that most of this is due to virtualization and the use of energy efficient computer equipment.”

Staco Energy has single and three phase UPS systmes that are tailored to fit your needs.

To stay in touch please join our Power Quality Connect VIP List, click on this link and enter your email address:

http://www.stacoenergy.com/newsletter.htm

 

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