Patent ID: 7734953

Claim:
An apparatus for providing power to a remote server management expansion card in a computer system, comprising: a hardware device mounted on the remote server management expansion card configured to manage a plurality of remotely located computer systems; a power control mechanism configured to provide power to the hardware device from a conditional power source when the conditional power source is available, and to provide computer system standby power to the hardware device when the conditional power source is unavailable; the power control mechanism comprising a power sensing component comprising a power-on reset circuit configured to sense whether the conditional power source is available, and a switching mechanism configured to be triggered by the power-on reset circuit to switch the power being provided to the hardware device from the conditional power source to the computer system standby power when the power-on reset circuit senses that the conditional power source is not available, such that the hardware device enters a low power mode; a processor configured to instruct the hardware device to enter the low power mode when receiving computer system standby power; and an energy storage component configured to provide power to the hardware device when both the conditional power source and the unconditional power source are unavailable.