After seeing a CNN headline on my mobile app that questioned whether the Apple Watch is a game changer, that got me to thinking: could the same be said for DCIM technology?

DCIM manages power, space and cooling capacity in data centers. While the technology has been around for several years, it has seen relatively slow adoption rates in the enterprise.

I recall one large global bank that was struggling with a lack of accurate views of power and cooling, which meant risk exposure with provisioning of new devices. With DCIM, they now have the ability to evaluate capacity and performance of power and cooling, allowing them to make better use of infrastructure, reduce the time to deploy new equipment and reduced risk.

I think it’s time for businesses to look at the benefits of investing and deploying DCIM technology in the enterprise. Here’s how DCIM could be a game changer for them.

What they’re up against

IT and facility execs tell me they’re up against numerous struggles in the data center. These include:

• How to get better control of their data center environments
• Where to spend their capital expenditure budget allocations to address the most pressing needs in the data center
• How to anticipate the IT requirements for the next big thing the business wants to launch.

They just can’t seem to find the right balance between meeting business demand with the black and white reality they face every day – there is only so much finite capacity in the data center.

DCIM to the rescue

This is where DCIM technology can change the playing field.

Based on my observations of how DCIM works in some of the world’s most advanced data center environments, there are three ways DCIM technology can be a true game changer.

Simplify

One major insurance company that recently deployed DCIM can now automate data collection by polling data via Modbus TCP/Serial, BACnet and SNMP for over 1,000 data points and across a 55,000 sq ft data center. They’ve simplified and with automation were able to retire hundreds of spreadsheets, manual BMS readings and time-consuming walk-throughs.

Regardless of the number of racks or available square footage you have, getting a handle on your data center environment requires data collection that is effective, accurate, in real time and highly scalable.

This is the number one need of today’s DCIM customers: enabling optimization of power, space and cooling. DCIM technology delivers this capability and replaces the current set of home grown, ad-hoc and manual collection methods in use.

Scalability

Game changing means being able to monitor, alert and analyze the results of your data collection across heterogeneous data center environments, at a scale which is characterized on the order of millions of metrics per second.

Scale involves both data collection and data processing. If the customer is monitoring 100,000 end points with 5 variables per item, they can rely on DCIM to easily scale to collect 2.5 million data points or metrics per second.

End users can count on DCIM to make these data points immediately available to a big data repository for speed of further data processing. This ability to collect, ingest, consume and process large, diverse and widely sourced data sets at scale means organizations can now deliver the kinds of power, space and cooling management and optimization that is expected.

Smarts

Organizations require this to optimize the use of data center resources, enable growth and operate efficiently.

DCIM can tell you when it will run out of power, space and cooling. It can also tell you how much time it has left to live, such as that by March 2015 you will be using 75% of your data center capacity based on historical trends.

It delivers an analytics layer that helps them identify bottlenecks proactively and improve utilization infrastructure.

DCIM can also provide the intelligence to plan, distribute, locate and manage equipment and resources in the data center in an optimal way, as the data center is used and as it changes.

Make it happen

DCIM is a game changer for those organizations willing to invest and transform the way they manage their data center environments and assets.

I invite you to join CA Technologies, along with experts from 451 Research and RagingWire on a September 30 webcast when we address the question, “Does my data center need DCIM and does it need it now?” Click here to register for the webcast.

What do you think? Do you see DCIM as a game changer?

Please share your comments below or Tweet me @Jose_O_Mora

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