PITTSBURGH-Three Carnegie Mellon University students will be awarded APC Fellowships for Data Center Efficiency Research during a program from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Thursday, March 5 at the Collaborative Innovation Center at 4720 Forbes Ave. The APC Research Fellowships support Carnegie Mellon Ph.D. students with a research focus in the broad area of data center efficiency. In addition, Carnegie Mellon's Parallel Data Lab will unveil the second major installment of APC's award-winning InfraStruXure® architecture and will be giving tours of its facility during the event.

APC's energy efficient InfraStruXure architecture fully integrates power, cooling racks, environmental monitoring, physical security and management, and allows for the selection of standardized components to create a solution through modular and mobile configurations. This standardization enables an easily scalable architecture that can meet changing needs and future expansion. This award-winning approach provides increased availability, improved adaptability and speed of deployment as well as lower total cost of ownership for IT environments.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to continue developing systems that improve the efficiencies of both power and cooling as well as improving the overall energy efficiency of data centers, which is so critical in business today," said Gregory R. Ganger, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon and director of the Parallel Data Lab.

Luca Parolini, a Ph.D. student in electrical and computer engineering, and Vijay Vasudevan and James Cipar, both Ph.D. students in computer science, will receive fellowships from APC that will cover tuition and stipends (up to $50,000) for one year.

"I am extremely grateful for this recognition by APC because there is so much pressure for industry to cut energy consumption, and the award will support the university's ongoing research into improving data center performance," said Parolini of Padua, Italy.

Vasudevan said he was both excited and proud of the APC Research Data Center Fellowship award. "This is a wonderful honor and I know it will help with my research," said Vasudevan of Palo Alto, Calif. Currently, Vasudevan is building computer clusters that consume only five to six watts of electricity compared with the current industry-wide standard of 300 to 500 watts.

Cipar of Acton, Mass., is also exploring problems related to controlling operating costs for data centers.

"Improving energy efficiency will continue to be an essential factor in the development and implementation of data center solutions having a critical affect on IT and facilities assets alike," said Robert McKernan, APC's senior vice president and president of APC North America. "The APC Fellowships for Data Center Efficiency Research will enable these Carnegie Mellon University students to research and influence key trends in the critical power and cooling industry."

About APC by Schneider Electric: APC by Schneider Electric, a global leader in critical power and cooling services, provides industry-leading product, software and systems for home, office, data center and factory floor applications. Backed by the strength, experience, and wide network of Schneider Electric's Critical Power & Cooling Services, APC delivers well planned, flawlessly installed and maintained solutions throughout their lifecycle. Through its unparalleled commitment to innovation, APC delivers pioneering, energy efficient solutions for critical technology and industrial applications. In 2007, Schneider Electric acquired APC and combined it with MGE UPS Systems to form Schneider Electric's Critical Power & Cooling Services Business Unit. APC solutions include uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), precision cooling units, racks, physical security, and design and management software, including APC's InfraStruXure® architecture, the industry's most comprehensive integrated power, cooling and management solution. Schneider Electric, with 114,000 employees and operations in 100 countries, achieved sales of $18.3 billion in 2008. For more information on APC, please visit www.apc.com. All trademarks are the property of their owners.