Powering networks has been a key discussion point in the communications industry for some time now. That’s because data centers are notorious for the amount of energy they require. And the power challenges are becoming even greater given the adoption of cloud environments and virtualization technology, says Steve Blakemore, who handles business development, marquee and solutions for Emerson Network Power (News - Alert).

As data centers become both more complex and more flexible due to these technologies, there’s also a greater need for customers to better understand what capacity is needed, and when, for which applications. They also need to get a handle on what power and cooling requirements all that will entail, he says. Emerson, which has solutions that span the spectrum of powering and cooling, can help data center operators with that, Blakemore says. He adds that if businesses can save even one kilowatt of power, which is not much, it can make a big difference in their costs over time.

While power decisions related to both mission-critical data centers, and also for smaller server rooms and network closets, used to fall under the auspices of facilities managers, today IT is becoming more involved in decisions around power, says Blakemore. That’s in part because power supplies used to occupy a special corner of the data center, but now are being peppered throughout data center environments. That is because data center equipment is growing increasingly powerful, and thus needs more power and cooling to stay up and running. And the fact that power solutions are becoming more user friendly is making it possible for IT types to have a hand in powering decisions, he adds.

Blakemore spoke to TMCnet at Cisco (News - Alert) Live this week in San Diego. At the event, Emerson Network Power was showing its SmartRow data-center-in-a-box solution. It’s designed for the SMB market and large enterprises that might need a handful of racks in a remote location. So, instead of investing in a whole room designed for data center gear, this solution provides a business with a prepackaged environment with climate control, monitoring and control, a UPS, a fire suppression system, and other features found in a data center environment.