Patent ID: 8547161

Claim:
A circuit, comprising: a device comprising a computer server in a computer data center; a switch, electrically coupled to the device, to control power applied to the device, the switch including a control terminal and two other terminals; a diode electrically coupled to an input node of the circuit and to the control terminal of the switch; an impedance electrically coupled to the input node of the circuit and to the control terminal of the switch, wherein the impedance is parallel to the diode; a capacitor separate from the switch that is electrically coupled between the control terminal of the switch and a first of the two other terminals; a voltage follower circuit electrically coupled between the input node and the diode; and a control circuit comprising a hot swap controller configured to provide a control signal to the input node prior to applying a supply voltage, wherein when the supply voltage is applied to a second of the two other terminals of the switch, the diode applies a voltage to the control terminal of the switch which causes the switch to remain open while the circuit is powering-up, whereby the supply voltage is applied to the second of the two other terminals of the switch after the control signal has been applied to the control terminal, thereby preventing spurious application of the supply voltage to the device.