by Shane Henson — May 28, 2012—Future Facilities, a London-based provider of powerful design, optimization and management software for mission-critical facilities and data centers, has released version 7 of its 6SigmaDC Software suite.
According to the company, 6SigmaDC Release 7 brings greater usability and more functionality to its suite of software products to support the efficient design and effective management of data centers. Enhancements include:
- Further help for energy efficiency modeling: Release 7 provides additional tools to those already available to data center designers seeking to maximize energy efficiency. Among the introductions are evaporative cooling objects—water spray, cooling pad and wetted heat exchanger—in 6SigmaRoom, 6SigmaRack and 6SigmaFM, plus an aisle enclosure object that can be used to simulate aisle containment to segregate airflow.
- Major upgrade to 6SigmaPower: Release 7 provides a substantial upgrade to the 6SigmaPower module. It includes new modeling tools for multiple breaker panels in power distribution units (PDUs), power generators and in-line connectors among several others, together with single point of failure analysis for virtually any element in the power system.
- New diagnostic and space measurement tools: New diagnostic tools for 6SigmaRoom, 6SigmaFM and 6SigmaRack improve analysis of cooling performance, specifically identifying areas of internal or external air recirculation; the proportion of air supplied to different cabinets from selected ACUs; also rack cooling performance.
- Major upgrade to 6SigmaPower: Release 7 provides a substantial upgrade to the 6SigmaPower module. It includes new modeling tools for multiple breaker panels in power distribution units (PDUs), power generators and in-line connectors among several others, together with single point of failure analysis for virtually any element in the power system.
In addition to these enhancements, 6SigmaRoomPlanner was added to the product portfolio. 6SigmaRoomPlanner offers many of the basic functions of the 6SigmaRoom and 6SigmaRoomLITE applications, but without the analytical capability, making it a cost-effective, entry-level platform for undertaking space planning from a physical perspective, and where appropriate, including an inventory, says the company.
