SynapSense ups funding to take datacentre monitoring mainstream

Green datacentre company SynapSense has expanded a second funding round, gaining an additional $7m (£5m) to promote its line of wireless environmental sensors.

The company, which provides sensors designed to give datacentre managers real-time insight into the environmental conditions in their facilities, said it will also use the funding to develop new sensors and software technology that can be used outside the datacentre and help optimise wider energy efficiency in building.

SynapSense's datacentre product combines wireless sensors with SynapSoft, software which provides a real-time map of environmental conditions in datacentre facilities.

These include thermal air mixing, pressure differential, and humidity, all factors that can affect the reliability, performance and energy use of servers. The company argues that by more closely monitoring these conditions, datacentre managers can ensure they are not wasting energy by over-cooling their facilities, and manage their space more effectively to reduce power requirements, enhance reliability and avoid existing equipment overheating.

The technology also allows firms to optimise the number of servers they can fit into a datacentre, limiting the need to expand existing facilities or buy superfluous equipment.

SynapSense reportedly added Robert Bosch Venture Capital to its existing stable of funders as it completed the extended second funding round.

It retains original investors Emerald Technology Ventures, Sequoia Capital, American River Ventures, Nth Power, and DFJ Frontier, which gave it $2m when it originally formed in spring 2006. These companies added $10m to that money when the company originally closed its second funding round last October.