The data center environment is one of the most complex in the world, with an infrastructure comprised of a confluence of interrelationships between different operating components. Thus, executives and data center managers need tools that can help them to not only see the workings of their IT assets and support systems, but also to understand them in order to manage and optimize them effectively.
Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) platforms can help you do just that. These programs can help you to visualize and manage all of your physical and IT assets within a single integrated view and align all of your IT operations with the needs of your corporation. A quality DCIM software program will also allow you to automate data center functions such as capacity planning and the integration of new equipment, as well as help to control your energy costs, potentially saving you millions over the long-term.
Selecting the Right Vendor
Yet succeeding with DCIM requires that you have the right vendor providing you with your service. DCIM has evolved so much since its first incursion into the data center market that many providers are struggling now to keep up. Whichever provider that you choose to work with should view DCIM as a multi-purpose management tool, rather than a simple IT asset monitoring system. With that in mind, here are a few things to consider when selecting your DCIM provider:
- Understanding the application beyond the data center: DCIM isn’t simply limited to assisting with your IT; it also helps to integrate all of physical infrastructure needed to support it. That includes all of the actual hardware at the many facilities across your corporation. Thus, your DCIM vendor should stress its impact at an enterprise level, not simply a data center one.
- Selling it as a comprehensive solution: While the original intent of DCIM was to simply monitor energy use, it has since grown to encompass IT automation and energy, service, and supply chain management. Any vendor that doesn’t emphasize its comprehensive use is one you don’t want to work with.
- An emphasis on management, not just monitoring: Your DCIM platform will provide you with a wealth of energy consumption information. Yet your vendor should be able to show you how to turn that data in actionable information, allowing you to not just visualize your IT operations, but to also optimize them for your organization’s benefit
DCIM solutions can make your life as a data center manager a whole lot less stressful. Yet selecting the right DCIM provider is key to enjoying all of the management benefits that this platform has to offer. As experts in the fields of data center design, management, and maintenance, we here at Titan Power have the expertise and insight to help you better understand DCIM and exactly how it you can put it to good use in your environment. With our help, you’ll have all of the information that you need to make an informed decision regarding your choice of DCIM vendors.