crystal group inc., a leading designer/manufacturer of rugged computer hardware, is joining forces with industry partners intel, vmware, and dc systems to help utilities monitor, manage, and modernize critical power infrastructures.

crystal group demonstrated its new rs37as17 3u rugged server – engineered to consolidate compute, storage, and networking in a single, scalable system capable of withstanding harsh environments – at the distributech conference and exhibition in san antonio, texas.

"crystal group's rs37as17 answers the growing demand for a quick, painless way to modernize and streamline power generation and distribution substations, boost efficiency and security, reduce costs, minimize downtime, and meet current and future requirements," says jim shaw, crystal group executive vice president of engineering.

"a true server-class powerhouse in a compact footprint, the crystal group rs37as17 3u rugged server converges key data-handling capabilities – including high-performance processing, storage, and networking – in a single rugged, reliable server designed to bring military-grade durability and reliability to power substations everywhere."

the crystal group rs37as17 can replace multiple aging devices with a single, compact solution to reduce size, weight, power, and cooling overhead, as well as streamline maintenance. the new rugged server is fully customizable to ease the transition to a more modern, reliable, and capable system, and is modular and scalable to support evolving requirements and technologies over a long operational life.

the versatile rs37as17 is completely configurable with four drive bays, three pci express (pcie) slots, support for up to 1tb of memory, and flexible i/o. compute, storage, and networking capacity can be added quickly and easily to accommodate future upgrades and expansion.

crystal group engineers tap decades of experience developing field-tested, combat-proven rugged hardware that meets or exceeds strict industry standards to craft the rs37as17 3u rugged server specifically for critical power infrastructure applications.

high-quality components are stabilized in a rugged aluminum enclosure with advanced thermal management to boost system reliability, availability, and survivability in the face of challenging conditions and extreme environments, including shock and vibration, extreme temperatures, humidity, and more at even the most remote power substations – where consumer grade systems may fail.

the rs37as17 is designed and tested to meet or exceed the iec 61850-3, it-65, ieee 1613 (surge only), and mil-std-810 standards, and complies with export control classification number (eccn) 5a992.c.  

crystal group's rs37as17 leverages the latest, industry-leading commercial off-the-shelf (cots) technologies such as intel^® xeon^® scalable processors, vmware virtualization software, and dc systems' human-machine interfaces (hmi).