Data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) is the convergence of IT and building facilities functions within an organisation. If you get DCIM right you will ensure the resilience, security, and sustainability of your IT systems.
The main goal of a DCIM implementation is to provide administrators and managers with a holistic view of a data centre’s performance so that power, equipment, rack and floor space are used as efficiently and effectively as possible. DCIM software will help managers achieve maximum energy efficiency and to help prevent equipment problems that lead to downtime.
Data centres are at the heart of the digital transformation that we are all experiencing. Monitoring your IT infrastructure is an essential part of guaranteeing business continuity so whether you have a network closet within a small office, a larger server room, a corporate data centre or operate a vast data centre that is facilitating cloud computing, and remote working, effective DCIM could benefit you.
The future of Data Centre Infrastructure Management
We work with DCIM specialists Schneider Electric to provide monitoring solutions. Schneider are calling the current stage of development, DCIM 3.0, which it suggests was fast-tracked by the Covid-19 pandemic and is characterised by a sprawling hybrid IT environment.
A blog from Schneider Electric’s Kevin Brown states: “Our focus is no longer on the traditional data centre but on all the connection points between the user and applications. Mission-critical infrastructure is everywhere and needs to be running 24/7.”
To help you develop the right data centre monitoring for your needs Schneider Electric has classified its solutions under edge computing or enterprise. Under enterprise we can offer Schneider Electric solutions and services to create new data centres or upgrade retrofit, and right-size on-premise, hybrid architectures.
Edge computing, meanwhile puts applications and data closer to devices and users. The introduction of digitisation to improve efficiency and business performance fuels demand for applications that need peak performance, particularly internet of things (IOT) applications. These applications often require lots of bandwidth, low latency, and reliable performance while meeting regulatory and compliance mandates. Schneider offers edge solution at the local and regional level.
However, whether we are providing monitoring solutions at the smallest or largest scale or under the edge computing or enterprise DCIM is always essential.
Schneider Electric’s DCIM solution: EcoStruxure IT
EcoStruxure IT ensures business continuity by enabling secure monitoring, management, insights, planning, and modelling whether from a single IT rack to hyper-scale IT, on-premises, in the cloud, and at the edge. EcoStruxure IT aims to revolutionise DCIM by delivering a Datacenter Management as a Service (DMaaS) architecture, purpose-built for the hybrid IT and data centre environments.
Under this over-arching DCIM solution you will have access to a range of platforms enabling you to manage your IT infrastructure and track power usage. These are the key platforms we can offer allowing you to have peace of mind about the resilience of your digital systems:
Data Center Expert
- Asset Monitoring: Monitor Schneider Electric and third-party devices: power, cooling, security, and environment from anywhere on the network and unlock user-defined reports, graphs, and instant fault notification and escalation.
- Device Management: Decrease set-up time and complexity of managed devices by simultaneously upgrading firmware for multiple APC devices, and create, save, and push configurations or specific device settings to similar APC devices.
- Reports and Graphs: Create, save and schedule user-defined reports for ease of data collection, distribution and analysis. You can also create graphs which will help you visualise potential hazardous trends more easily.
- Alarms and notifications: Real-time event notification will reduce response times to critical physical infrastructure situations. This enables IT Administrators to reduce the time to repair faults as well as improving efficiency, and maximising uptime. You can customise alarming and escalation by device, by rack, or by location so notifications go to the right people at the right time. You can also quickly locate devices and alerts through the free search field.
APC Netbotz
APC Netbotz real-time monitoring appliances are designed to protect against environmental threats such as temperature, humidity, smoke and water leaks which pose a significant threat to the company’s IT infrastructure. Additionally, the appliances can be linked to a range of sensors to protect the physical infrastructure.
The APC Netbotz software allows you to receive instant alerts and creates a robust management system for your devices, sensors and/or the rack access control solution. You can view the user interface with a browser which means you can have quick access of your IT spaces from anywhere on a secure network. This provides you with your real-time alerts and sensor data overview. Additionally, you can have multiple camera feeds on a single screen.
APC Netbotz integrates with Data Center Expert as well as APC racks and NetBotz sensors, allowing for easy deployment, configuration, and management.
EcoStruxure IT Expert
The EcoStruxure IT app and web interface enables remote DCIM. You can easily deploy device settings to a large number of identical devices from anywhere in the world without any downtime.
You can access the inventory showing details for all devices, and it provides you with a quick overview of input/output power, balance, and runtime. You can then drill in further by clicking on the device in your web interface or directly on your smartphone.
Meanwhile data from UPSs, cooling systems and other data centre infrastructure equipment is stored in the EcoStruxure data lake, anonymised and analysed. This data allows you to make data driven decisions on the performance, efficiency and health of your equipment.
DCIM will give you peace of mind
DCIM gives you the peace of mind that you can monitor and manage all aspects of your IT infrastructure. We are established Schneider Electric partners and are skilled in its DCIM software and APC Netbotz monitoring devices. If you would like to know more about how we can help you manage your IT spaces better please get in touch.