27 November 2017
Geist has launched a Universal PDU that complies with Project Olympus – Microsoft’s next-generation cloud hardware design and model for open source hardware development in collaboration with the Open Compute Project (OCP) community.
The company says its new unit features a universal input power connection that enables users to select a geographically-specific power cable (the ‘facility side cable’) versus requiring a country or geographically-specific PDU product.
According to Geist, this universal approach – which is in contrast to traditional PDU designs with specific hardwired connectors – enables a single unit to be quickly localised by adding a cable, or pre-configured in a rack and shipped to any location regardless of voltage and amperage, thus supporting greater flexibility in the supply chain.
The UPDU features a 2U form factor and is said to offer low profile circuit breakers and efficient outlet density. Geist claims that the highly modular PDU, with its “wide variety” of facility side cables, embodies the OCP ideals of flexibility allowing faster deployments, upgrades and expansions.
The company says it began collaborating with Microsoft at the concept stage to develop a design that would simultaneously simplify and accelerate PDU deployments anywhere in the world through the use of a single SKU. It says reliability, flexibility and scalability were core requirements, along with customisation capabilities that make the design continually adaptable to the changing requirements of global data centres, from hyperscale to start-ups.
Geist adds that it will continue to work with the OCP and Project Olympus to develop PDU designs that are interoperable within a variety of rack formats, voltages, power requirements and geographies, and can be easily ‘hot-swapped’ for rapid upgrade capability.