Electronic components manufacturer, CUI, has completed deployment of all initial test units of its Intelligent Control of Energy (ICE) Block technology.
The technology includes a new ICE Switch product which is said to unlock the power capacity for the user, highlighting the peak shaving capabilities of ICE Block.
Peak shaving is the process of reducing usage through load shedding, giving users the ability to control power usage from a supplier.
The ICE Block technology has been piloted with Virtual Power Systems, which partnered with CUI in 2016 to work on the company’s software defined ICE solution.
Shankar Ramamurthy, Chief executive officer, VPS said: “Virtual Power Systems recently piloted ICE Blocks from CUI at one of the world’s most sophisticated data centres in Salt Lake City.
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“CUI was able to take complex high density Lithium Ion Battery chemistry designs and turn them into working products at customer shelves in record time.”
All initial trial evaluations are currently being conducted by three key participants in the data centre market.
The first is an unnamed data centre company listed in the Fortune 500; it has its own data centre infrastructure across several US states with financial product portfolios across North America.
This customer is said to have seen the peak shaving capabilities of the CUI’s technology as an opportunity to install additional racks in all existing data centres and sites currently under construction.
The second customer is another unnamed data centre hardware provider which currently uses the ICE Switch as a platform to improve its customer value proposition.
The final company listed to trial the new technology is a Fortune 100 company, which is also unnamed, but was referred to by CUI as one of the largest providers in the world. It is evaluating the ICE Block/VPS combination of technologies to use as a platform for inclusion in the solutions provided to its customers.
Matt McKenzie, President, CUI said: “We believe that this is a major step in the traction of this disruptive technology. We are looking forward to demonstrating further the advantages of the ICE platform with many more customers in the near future.”
