Schneider Electric, via its APC subsidiary, is making it easier for data center operators to get a handle on their energy consumption. The company’s InfraStruxure line of energy monitoring and management products just got some pretty significant upgrades.

PUE! PUE!

Foremost among them, at least for businesses trying to benchmark for IT efficiency, is InfraStruxure Efficiency 1.1, which in addition to monthly and CO2 emissions reports, can calculate PUE and DCIE. These are important metrics that can serve as goal posts in data center efficiency initiatives — PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) arguably moreso, or at least more popular. Other new capabilties include a new data center modeling and simulation app called Data Center Lab and upgrades to InfraStruxure Capacity Impact Analysis that acts as dashboard for power distribution and UPS systems, even for non-Schneider gear.

It’s great to see a top maker of data center energy distribution and backup gear move so firmly into the energy management market and help IT shops make smart decisions about their energy costs. Plus, if the makers of your power infrastructure also offer energy management capabilities, the excuses to put off this critical function evaporate. And brings us all a step closer to a world full of lean, green data centers (the best kind!).