DCN February 2017 | Page 29

infrastrucure management
when in fact many have lost data
audit can uncover significantly more
integrity through uncontrolled access
IT assets than data centre owners
and DC changes taking place that
previously assumed they had ,
are not captured or reported . They
including discovering hidden assets
fail to identify where there may be
or ‘ ghost ’ devices . These can be
weaknesses in existing processes and
redeployed or removed if redundant ,
remedying them before implementing
rather than wasting valuable space
‘ intelligent technology ’.
and money , as shockingly one in
When wireless LAN appeared
three data centre servers is a ghost /
on the market in the early 2000s ,
zombie device , ( Computer World
many vendors were unable to inter-
June 2015 ). It is also the first step in
operate and customers were forced
adopting BAU processes where a full
down proprietary technology routes .
lifecycle management is maintained
Only when the Wi-Fi alliance helped the IEEE to define standards for the wireless LAN industry did technology adoption rocket and today we have ubiquitous Wi-Fi everywhere .
Long term this is exactly what
in the data centre .
Trackit has been auditing data centres for some of the world ’ s biggest financial and telecom providers over the past nine years . In our experience , the
data centres , as this is always going to be a combination of technical solutions and manual processes with a solution in place to identify any potential faults / locations and
A full data centre asset audit will focus on the collection of all devices in a data centre environment .
needs to happen in the DCIM
most optimised data centres and
the manual intervention to rectify or
sector . Key providers need to work
successful DCIM implementations
to override . An audit minimises the
collectively , define the market ,
have been those that have been
risk of breaches and outages in a
collaborate on and adopt standards
built upon a solid foundation of
data centre and allows data centre
as part of the DCIM solution ( such
asset knowledge , and a data centre
managers to rapidly discover a point
as ISO55000 ); working together
asset audit is a core requirement
of failure or security vulnerability .
to educate customers on what can
in achieving this . Our audit team
As the DCIM solutions and related
be a platform that drives significant
routinely uncover 300 per cent more
tools evolution continues along with
operational benefit to data centre
IT assets than data centre owners
organisations ’ ability to implement
owners / operators .
previously assumed they had and
them , this process will become
All too often there is a failure
can provide customers with the
more seamless – a necessity
to scope out whether full DCIM is
insight to reduce power usage by
of the increasing sophistication
actually required OR it ’ s implemented
between 15 and 30 per cent .
and complexity of data centre
without a solid foundation in place .
Many data centre owners
requirements in the digital age .
Both of which can only be achieved by having accurate and effective
had been led to believe that data centre physical device audits are
Effective asset management
asset management and its importance
no longer necessary with tools
Gartner states that , ‘ Enterprises that
must be recognised .
like real time monitoring , such as
systematically manage the lifecycle
Data centre asset audits
network and temperature monitoring , and automatic discovery software
of their IT assets will reduce cost per asset by as much as 30 per cent
A data centre asset audit consists
being available . However , it is now
during the first year , and between
of a physical site survey of all
recognised that these types of
five and 10 per cent annually during
assets an organisation may own in
solutions cannot be solely relied upon
the next five years .’ This validates
their data centre . This audit is the
due to current technical constraints ,
that it ’ s more important than ever to
first step to achieving full visibility
and only work when built upon an
have effective asset management
of your data centre , empowering
accurate inventory management
software and processes to effectively
you with the knowledge to drive
foundation of asset knowledge .
manage assets within a data centre .
full data centre optimisation . A well
This foundation will support the
The physical auditing of IT assets
performed accurate and physical
current and future management of
using a data centre asset audit is
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