| The winners of SearchDataCenter.com's 2009 Data Center Products of the Year are exemplified by innovation, performance and value. We've narrowed down dozens of submissions to bring you three finalists in each product category: Data center infrastructure products (backup power, data center cooling and infrastructure support products), enterprise server hardware and systems management tools. In this down economy, data center managers are dealing with shrinking budgets and staff. These products are designed to ease that burden and help IT managers deliver more with less. We requested submissions from vendors and users. The winning products come from all corners of the data center industry, from well-established companies to companies you may have never heard of. Our independent judges scored products based on the following criteria: Ease of integration into existing environments
Functionality
Innovation
Manageability
Performance
Value
Congratulations to all the winners. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Products of the Year 2009:
Data center infrastructure GOLD AWARD:
SynapSense Data Center Monitoring and Energy Management (SynapSoft 5.0) The SynapSense data center monitoring and energy management system uses wireless sensors to monitor all of the environmental aspects of the data center. IT managers can use this tool to assess current operating conditions, identify opportunities and quantify efficiency improvements. It is a tool for continuous data center power and cooling optimization. Given the dynamic environment in a data center, there is a need for a nonintrusive, inexpensive and easily deployed solution to measure the impact of changes (i.e., adding or moving racks, virtualization, etc.) in the data center. The SynapSense tool tracks: Temperature
Humidity
Dew point
Sub floor air pressure differential
CRAH/CRAC unit efficiency (calculates delta T across the CRAC unit) The system also provides alerts and alarms to ensure the data center remains within the allowable ranges per ASHRAE or those established by the data center manager. The tool also creates live image maps of the data center, providing the data center operator a high-level visual tool to instantly see hot spots developing, CRAC humidity levels cycling or sub floor pressure differential levels. The SynapSense system also offers branch circuit monitoring for tracking data center energy use and efficiency as well as Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). | 
