Lambda grants management control

The intense industrywide focus on power management has been a major influence in pushing vendors to develop new management capabilities for their equipment. Several equipment vendors came to Supercomm '98 last month in Atlanta to show off what they have been working on recently.

Among the newly launched power management offerings at Supercomm was the WLPMC Power Management Controller from Lambda Electronics Inc., Melville, N.Y. The Windows 95-based unit can monitor and control up 60 high-power rectifiers and associated batteries, according to Phil Ridler, product manager for telecommunications at Lambda.

The controller works with Lambda's new WLR5600 switchmode rectifier, a 100 A, 48 V system. When 20 rectifiers are connected in parallel under the control of the WLPMC, they can deliver 2000 A from a rack that stands only 2.2 meters high. This level of power commonly is required for central offices and other telecom deployments.

The controller itself is only 44 millimeters high and features front panel programming and remote alarming capability via modem. The price for the system ranges from $600 to $800 depending on quantities ordered.

The power management controller may prove to be a money-saver for carriers that have many remote power sites in their networks, such as wireless networks. "Sending people out to remote sites cost money. Automated monitoring and controlling can save the network maintenance staff from having to send technicians out on calls for routine maintenance," said Ridler.

In fact, Lambda developed the power management controller based on the recent emergence of many new remote sites in carrier networks. "These remote sites are very common in U.S. networks," said Ridler.

The company also kept in mind that these carriers might want to remotely control other devices at these sites besides power systems. In this vein, the power management controller also can interface with temperature sensors, burglar alarms and other security systems, said Ridler. Production of the units started last month, and the first customer deliveries were scheduled for earlier this month.