Temperature@lert Blog - USB & WiFi Temperature Monitoring with Email Alerts

Temperature@lert USB Installs in Under a Minute

It can probably be installed even faster if you're not holding the video camera. Check it out:

There's a New Face at Temperature@lert

Welcome Stephen Beard!

Stephen Beard has joined us for the summer to apply his extensive knowledge of Linux and embedded systems by improving the performance of the T@ WiFi device. Stephen will be a senior next year at California Polytechnic in San Louis Obispo.

 

He programs by one motto, "never quit" b/c " for almost any problem you encounter, you can methodically go about narrowing down and finding the solution". Please join me in welcoming Stephen to Temperature@lert!

Temperature@lert Enters its Fifth Year!

We're excited to be entering our fifth year of being in business! In that time, we have:

• Amassed the trust of tens-of-thousands of customers
• Saved tens of millions of dollars of IT equipment from melt down
• Honed the reliability of our flagship product, Temperature@lert USB Edition (without ever issuing a price increase I might add)
• Introduced two new ways to easily monitor temperature with our wireless products
• Been certified by Dell / SPEC POWER as the ONLY compliant temperature monitoring device with 64-bit drivers
• Received less than 20 product returns (yes, less than returns 20 in 5 years and tens-of-thousands sold!)
• Acted as "software curators" by not allowing the software to bloat with unnecessary features
• Managed to turn a profit without outside funding
• Responded to most support requests within MINUTES
• Adopted environmentally friendlier business and manufacturing practices

But, most importantly, we couldn't have done it without you, our customers. Thank you for your support in making Temperature@lert the easiest to use, most reliable and cost effective solution for temperature monitoring/alerting.

So, keep the lines of communication open, let us know what else we can do to improve Temperature@lert, and, of course, please tell your friends and colleagues. Here's to many more years!

Follow Us On Twitter

Temperature@lert is now on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tempalertharry

What's the next big thing in temperature sensors?

We're leading the charge at the Sensor Expo & Conference in Chicago, IL. Self powered sensors that run indefinately are on the horizon.

Find one of our team members there for free Temp@lert USB, WiFi, and Cellular products and cash prizes.

 

Processor Magazine on Why You Should Choose Temperature@lert

Check out the latest editorial on Temperature@lert from Processor Magazine. From the article:

"...some of the more advanced monitoring products can sometimes become the victim of their own sophistication. They monitor a plethora of environmental conditions beyond temperature, produce numerous reports, and in many cases may even include a camera, but with so many different factors to keep track of, they may miss what is a very obvious indicator of trouble: a spike in heat.

"The market is pretty well saturated with alternate solutions,” says Schechter. “However, like many of the software programs you use every day, these alternatives are typically overloaded with features that just aren’t needed. Our focus on simplicity makes our products much easier to use and more reliable than the alternatives.” read on...

Temperature@lert Invited to MIT's 100K Competition Entrepreneurs Showcase

Temperature@lert will be featured in the Entrepreneur's Showcase at the grand finale of MIT's 100K Competition on May 13th, 2009. Come visit us and cheer on fellow entrepreneurs during the electrifying finale of this year's 100K Competition.

The MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition is a year-long educational experience designed to encourage students and researchers in the MIT community to act on their talent, ideas and energy to produce tomorrow's leading firms. Now in its 20th year, the Competition has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and business startup services to outstanding teams of student entrepreneurs who submitted business plans for new ventures showing significant business potential. The refinement process of the Competition, its network of mentors, investors and potential partners, and the cash prizes awarded have helped many of these teams to act on their dreams and build their own companies and fortunes.

5/13/09 UPDATE - Pics from the event:

 

 

Running a cool data center? Don't sweat it when it comes to humidity

Check out this story Chris A. MacKinnon about humidity in the data center from a recent feature in Processor Magazine:

A hot data center is bound for trouble. But what about a data center with too little or too much vapor in the air? You don’t hear as much about humidity as you do about cooling in the data center, but most data center and IT managers in small to midsized enterprises believe that humidity can have just as detrimental an impact on data center equipment as insufficient cooling.

The Impact

Harry Schechter, founder of Temperature@lert (www.temperaturealert.com), agrees that humidity has a large impact on data center equipment. “It’s true that humidity was becoming less and less of a problem for the modern data center.” Schechter says. “However, the problem of humidity is about to come back into play. The name of the game today is cost cutting. One way that data center managers are cutting costs is by raising the temperature on the thermostats. For each degree of increase, you can get back about 4% of your energy bill.”

Schechter says most equipment is rated at temperatures far above what a normal data center exists at, but there does come a point of diminishing returns for pushing up the thermostat. “If you experience an AC failure, there’s less time to react,” he says. “Also, maintaining a data center at 80 [degrees Fahrenheit] (which seems to be about the optimal temperature for electricity savings) increases the air’s ability to hold moisture. This is why humidity will start to pop up on the radar screen again.”

It appears that humidity is indeed a bigger deal than some experts are purporting. “If you’re sticking with the traditional cool temperatures in the data center, it’s not much of a worry anymore,” Schechter says. “However, if you decide to outfit your staff with Bermuda shorts, it’s time to start watching humidity.”

You can view the full article here and trust that we'll retire the Bermuda shorts line from our next interview. :)

T@ WiFi Edition Integrated into MIT Robotic Tomato Garden

A researcher at MIT recently integrated several Temperature@lert WiFi edition units into a robotic tomato garden. The Temperature@lert WiFi units monitor the temperature and soil moisture. The readings are monitored by a robot so it can determine when to stop by and water the plants. Check out this video of the robot in action:

 

Turning up the Heat to Save Money

Check out this article where Temperature@lert and others discuss the pros and cons of turning up the temperature in your data center to save on energy costs:

http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles%2Fp3109%2F37p09%2F37p09.asp&guid=&searchtype=&WordList=&bJumpTo=True

There's just one thing we left out of the discussion: You'll need to switch your data center uniform to Bermuda Shorts. :)