infrastrucure management
A STUDY IN SOFTWARE
Matt Lane , president , DCIM Division at Geist , assesses the growth of SaaS infrastructure management systems .
One of my greatest challenges as a father of two boys is figuring out how to encourage my kids to do other things besides sit in front of a screen the entire day . I find myself constantly negotiating with them for ‘ just 10 more minutes ’. Our kids ’ TV is upstairs in a loft and I don ’ t know how many times I have said , ‘ Boys , it ’ s time to turn off the video games ,’ only to get the response , ‘ We will when this round is over ’. Forty-five minutes later I realise they are still playing and then have to walk upstairs to get the proper reaction . This last week I found a solution ! I purchased a Wi-Fi controlled outlet that our television can be conveniently plugged into . Through an App on my phone now , I can simply turn the TV on or off from anywhere . I can set schedules and determine exactly what times the TV is available . My kids love it ( wink , wink )!
These types of remotely controlled devices are sweeping the consumer market . With the right technology and funds , you can control almost anything in your house from an interface on your phone . A study from AT & T claims there will be 31 billion devices connected to the Internet by 2020 ! Brilliant , right ?
What does this have to do with DCIM ? I ’ ve worked in the DCIM sector now for about 10 years . Over the course of those years , I have had several conversations with partners and end users surrounding the topic of a hosted DCIM platform or a Software-as-a-Service ( SaaS ) DCIM offering . Recently , a few companies have emerged with SaaS based DCIM offerings . I ’ ve been approached with the question : Is the market ready for a full DCIM platform delivered via a SaaS model ?
DCIM is an encompassing term . For this article , we will assume DCIM means a suite of features including asset management , real time data and alarming , analytics , workflow , capacity planning , and more . Most of these feature sets fit a SaaS offering very well . The relational information created by tracking assets through their lifecycle , running ‘ what-if ?’ scenarios , generally understanding capacities , and reporting on historical information all fit very nicely into a hosted application . The benefits of having the relational data on an external platform include : Cost savings generally in SaaS . Some studies claiming up to 35 per cent savings in a SaaS model versus on-premise installations Access anywhere
Less internal IT and security hoops for faster initial deployment Simplified ongoing maintenance , back up and general upkeep
Relational data that is somewhat static is easily hosted by a third party and accessed from the end users via several methods from anywhere in the world , all with good benefit to the end user .
Where the SaaS model becomes challenging for DCIM is when real time data is required as part of the core data sets . In the case of the Wi-Fi outlet , there is a limited amount of bi-directional information that passes via my network to the hosting provider and then to the App . In a DCIM application , this same type of data passing can easily reach into the hundreds of thousands of data points . Updating those points every few seconds can prove an interesting throughput challenge even with today ’ s Internet speed and technologies . Real time alarming , notifications and other critical data need to be acquired quickly so users can have true operational awareness within their facilities . Large delays in this real time data can cause confusion , worry and inefficiencies to those that rely on it for their daily tasks .
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