By Tim Cooke, Amphenol Broadband Solutions
As network speeds increase, and their elements move ever closer to end users, the need for good, reliable and steady power has never been greater. With the changing architectures of networks – copper, fiber, wireless, small cells, etc. it is equally important that power solutions be scalable and intelligent.
It is important, therefore, that modern power solutions provide usable data that not only tracks their own health, but also can collect and transmit information that allows an operations team to make better informed decisions on how to best manage the entire network. Voltage, amperage and temperature monitoring, for example, can provide actionable insight in the following ways:
- Within a co-location facility – understand the actual power usage when access to the metering device or monthly power usage invoice is not available. Such information will prove useful for contract negotiations related to power consumption.
- Provisioning analytics can determine at what time of day the highest power consumption takes place and offers the ability to tailor tasks for periods when power is less expensive and places a lesser demand on the grid.
- Mitigation – with advanced monitoring, the ability to avoid disruption of services exists by enabling the ability to recognize and identify issues before a failure occurs.
Each of these areas, and more, may be improved through the effective use of power monitoring.