Patent ID: 8762752

Claim:
A system for remotely managing electric power usage of a plurality of target computers, comprising: (a) a plurality of computer groups, wherein each of the computer groups comprises: (i) a plurality of target computers, each target computer in the computer group using electric power at a rate associated with a corresponding duty cycle and power rating, and wherein the sum of the power usage for each of the target computers in the computer group forms a total group power usage; and (ii) a power controller operatively coupled to the target computers, configured to control the power usage of each of the target computers according to corresponding user input data to cause the total group power usage of the computer group to be at or below a total group power usage limit; and (b) a remote management computer communicatively connected to each of the target computers and the power controller of each of the computer groups over a communications link, wherein the remote management computer is configured to receive the user input data including the total group power usage limit of the computer groups and at least one of a priority assignment of each of the computer groups, minimum duty cycle setting, and power zone setting for at least one of the target computers of each of the computer groups, in response to an action of a user; discover all of the power controllers and the target computers of the system; monitor the power usage of each of the target computers of the computer groups and the total group power usage of the computer groups; and when the total group power usage of one of the computer groups exceeds the total group power usage limit of the one of the computer groups, control the power controller of the one of the computer groups to cause the total group power usage of the one of the computer groups to be at or below the total group power usage limit.