The customisation of rack PDUs is an increasingly popular request among customers, IHS reports-- and while many rack PDU suppliers don't offer customisation options, other say custom orders make up to 50% of sales.
Customisation ranges from non-standard cord lengths to unique combinations of socket types or number of sockets and even custom chassis colours. Such flexibility depends on the organisation of supplier manufacturing and supply chains, and can be difficult to achieve. As a result, some suppliers offer "modular" rack PDUs, with a standard set of components (such as communications module and modules with various combinations of sockets) mounted to the chassis as per customer requirements.
Many modular products include hot-swappable components-- components or modules one can replace while the rack PDU remains online, negating the need to power down the entire rack PDU strip. Some companies offer hot-swappable outlets, while others offer hot-swappable communications modules complete with network cards. Datacentre managers or technicians can use such capability to upgrade from non-metered to metered outlets, from metered to switched outlets, to change outlet types or switch to outlets with different amperages.
But do customers actually swap out components from hot-swappable rack PDUs? According to IHS, the answer is "very rarely." How come? End-users probably want peace of mind from purchases, and hot-swapping is only used for easy replacement in case of breakages. As a result, the analyst is skeptical on the sales potential of such products, at least if customers continue to fail to take advantage of hot-swappability.
