Achieve Proper Cooling & Management of IT Equipment in Any Environment

Most organizations are aware that servers, networking gear, and other IT equipment have specific environmental requirements, and need to be physically protected from accidental and intentional tampering. In many cases, however, organizations simply don’t have suitable space in their office environment. They run power and network cabling to a storage closet and install shelves or tables to hold their IT equipment.

The “network closet” works well enough for a time, but management becomes difficult as the organization accumulates more and more gear. Worse, the typical network closet lacks adequate cooling to dissipate the heat generated by all that equipment. It’s not uncommon for organizations to prop open the door — which, of course, means that anybody can gain access.

In smaller offices, IT equipment is often stashed in an empty cubicle, on desks or even on the floor in a corner. In a retail or restaurant environment, the gear might be installed in the employee break room. The equipment is hot, it’s noisy and it’s in the way. And it’s all too easy for someone to trip over a cable and bring down the network.

Enconnex has developed a simple, yet elegant solution to this problem.

EdgeRack™ is a standard data center cabinet with a rack-mount cooling unit that can support up to 5kW of computing power. The 10U cooling unit is fully self-contained, without the need for water or coolant. It blows a curtain of cold air down the front of the cabinet into the equipment and pulls the hot exhaust air back into the system. The unit has a simple set of manual controls and a temperature and humidity sensor that can be placed anywhere in the cabinet. It is also web-enabled so the IT team can get remote notifications of alarms or status changes.

The EdgeRack enables more effective management of IT and A/V equipment, which can be rack-mounted or installed on shelves. The EdgeRack comes as a simple, open platform that can be combined with smart power distribution, UPS backup power, fire suppression, network services, reporting and management software, and more. The cabinet has special plexiglass front and rear doors with locks for security, and sound-dampening panels to reduce noise in an office environment.

The EdgeRack is ideal for branch offices and small offices, retail stores and restaurants, schools, medical facilities, and many other environments where there isn’t space for a proper data center. It is also great for IT labs and testing facilities, enabling the management and security of equipment in virtually any location.

Many organizations outfit the cabinet in their centralized data center for shipment to remote locations with plug-and-play installation. Enconnex also partners with systems integrators, such as Rahi Systems, to install IT and/or AV equipment in the EdgeRack and ship the turnkey solution to their customers.

IT equipment requires proper management to prevent overheating, downtime, and security issues. The EdgeRack 5M Series secure integrated cabinet is a perfect solution for enabling organizations to create a fully functional data center environment within the space of a single rack.