Introduction
Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) is an invaluable tool for optimizing data center operations, but do you truly need one? To determine whether a DCIM solution is right for you, consider the critical questions it can address:
| What |
Critical Questions
|
| Asset Management |
– What assets are present in my data center? How are they interconnected? Who owns each piece of equipment?
|
| Capacity Management |
– What is the available space, power, cooling, and connectivity in my data center? Where should I deploy new equipment for optimal performance?
|
| Change Management |
– How can I efficiently manage workloads and tasks within my data center? Who is responsible for specific tasks? Do I have effective workflow processes for my staff?
|
| Power Management |
– What is the current power consumption? How much power reserve is available? How can I ensure high availability and uptime for my systems?
|
| Environmental Management |
– How do I address hotspots in my data center? Am I overcooling the facility? How can I maintain a safe environment for my assets? Are there underutilized assets to decommission and recover resources?
|
| Energy Management |
– What strategies can I employ to save energy and reduce costs? What is the current energy expenditure? How do individual users align with energy-saving goals?
|
| Reporting |
– Can I generate comprehensive reports instantly, offering data on capacity and productivity? Do these reports support executive and operational decision-making?
|
DCIM solutions can answer all these important questions below.
- Asset Management
- What assets do I have in my data center?
- How are they connected?
- Who owns the equipment?
- Capacity Management
- How much space, power, cooling and connectivity do I have?
- Where are the best places to deploy new equipment?
- Change Management / Workflow
- How do I manage the workload?
- Who does the work?
- Is there a workflow process for my staff?
- Power Management
- What is being consumed?
- How much power is available?
- How can I ensure availability and uptime?
- Environmental Management
- How can I manage hot spots in my data center?
- Am I overcooling my data center?
- How can I maintain a safe environment for my data center assets?
- Do I have assets not being utilized that I can remove to recover space, power, cooling, etc. (Note: Many customers have approximately 30% of assets that are not being utilized).
- Energy Management
- How can I save energy and cost?
- How much am I spending on energy?
- Who is using the most energy and who is meeting our energy-saving goals?
- Reporting
- Reports available with the click of a button with details of the data center capacity and productivity that supports executive and operations level information allowing to make proactive business decisions
Nearly every data center manager needs some subset of these questions answered and proper tools to do same. Remember there are few if any real “one size fits all” solutions for all these questions, so the next questions is which questions are my priorities and what is the most efficient tool to help me answer and maintain that information. Contact Asset VUE below to review your priorities.
