Data Center Journal

VOLUME 54 | FEBRUARY 2018

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THE DATA CENTER JOURNAL | 11 www.datacenterjournal.com 3. Energy optimization By identifying inefficient use of infrastructure and safely consolidating and/or retiring servers that are working inefficiently, power optimization can begin and cost savings can accrue. Since cooling is a hey line item on any data center balance sheet, DCIM can help keep the ledger in the black by monitoring temperature throughout the facility in real time, enabling the operator to safely raise temperatures without affecting IT equipment performance. Reducing the power needed to cool IT assets helps decrease energy costs and boost profitability. 4. Retiring inefficient assets A DCIM solution can track assets from the minute they land on the load- ing dock to the day they're decom- missioned by following their location, connections, maintenance schedule and age. Keeping tabs on how old a particular piece of equipment is, as well as what maintenance it has undergone and still requires, enables informed decisions regarding the end of the as- set's useful life to determine whether it's more expensive to maintain than to invest in a new and more efficient device. is capability allows managers to confidently select and retire assets. 5. Workflow Using a workflow engine en- abled by a DCIM solution, data center managers can better track energy- consumption patterns and align their staff accordingly. In turn, this process frees up employees to focus on critical data center and business initiatives—an action that's more about allocating hu- man energy than tracking kilowatts. DCIM with workflow gives the data center team a source of informa- tion detailing what work has been per- formed, by whom and when, as well as what projects may still be pending. In addition, the workflow automates tasks, increases accuracy, and minimizes dis- agreements and work duplication. DCIM also makes it possible to share all these insights with the IT service-management (ITSM) system for more-accurate cost analysis and smoother facility operations. Specifically, for the colocation provider, DCIM enables management to enjoy many of the above benefits, with advantages for the tenants. In a multitenant data center, it's a true dif- ferentiator for attracting and retaining customers. Since customers have access to real-time data, the DCIM solution offers assurance for meeting SLAs and billing accuracy. It also allows coloca- tion providers to discover hidden, sellable capacity. ey can therefore use their available space and power at optimum capacity while passing on cost savings to tenants. Energy-optimization efforts are under way across all sectors—and for good reason. e U.S. government has instituted the Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI), which requires federal agencies to reduce their data center footprint by decreasing space and energy usage and by updat- ing the computing infrastructure. It's unsurprising that DCIM is a critical part of this mandate. Optimizing data centers, and all computing infrastructure, for greater energy efficiency isn't a new idea— nor is it an easy task. But data center managers have the option to invest in a DCIM solution specifically developed to reduce energy consumption, make best use of both physical and power capacity, and maintain uptime, all while achieving data center optimization. n About the Author: Mark Gaydos is chief marketing officer for Nlyte Software, the leading data center infrastructure-management (DCIM) solution provider for seamlessly automating data center operations and infrastructure into an enterprise's IT ecosystem. DCIM can help keep the ledger in the black by monitoring temperature throughout the facility in real time, enabling the operator to safely raise temperatures without affecting IT equipment performance. Reducing the power needed to cool IT assets helps decrease energy costs and boost profitability.

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