Facebook to Deploy TrendPoint Data Center Power Meters

Facebook is deploying power quality meters by Corona, California-based TrendPoint Systems across its data centers, the vendor announced Tuesday.

The social network’s data center facilities team has been a TrendPoint customer since about two years ago, when it used the vendor to implement branch circuit monitoring across busway and power distribution infrastructure.

For Facebook and other operators of massive data center facilities, incremental improvements in energy efficiency can potentially translate into big savings because of their scale. Because data center infrastructure is the biggest expense for any of these companies, they are constantly in the process of optimizing the way they design and operate it.

The power quality meters, called Ensure Enkapsis, will integrate with TrendPoint’s other products in Facebook data centers as well as with the company’s data center infrastructure management software. Facebook uses a DCIM solution custom built by CA Technologies.

Enkapsis meters provide waveform capture metrics and all downstream power and environmental monitoring.

“TrendPoint Systems will provide us with a granular understanding of power consumption across our distribution equipment – information that will help us improve our IT infrastructure,” Tom Furlong, vice president of infrastructure at Facebook, said in a statement.

Facebook has three large data centers it owns and operates in the U.S. and one in Sweden. The newest Facebook data center, located in Altoona, Iowa, came online in November.

Facebook also takes space with wholesale data center providers on East Coast and West Coast in the U.S., but has been gradually moving infrastructure out of those spaces.