Intelligent CIO North America Issue 21 | Page 42

FEATURE : DATA CENTERS

DCIM SOFTWARE ENABLES OPERATORS TO MAXIMIZE THE UTILIZATION OF THEIR EXISTING FOOTPRINT SO THEY CAN DEFER BUILDOUTS OF POWER- HUNGRY CABINETS OR EVEN NEW DATA CENTERS .

Power and environment monitoring helps protect sustainability initiatives from causing downtime , losing redundancy , forming hot spots and causing other conditions that may impact services .
How can DCIM help reduce energy consumption ?
There are many ways DCIM software helps reduce energy consumption . First , DCIM software allows operators to measure , trend and report on energy consumption so they have the data they need to make more informed decisions .
Ghost servers and power hogs can be easily identified so operators can decommission them , replace them with more efficient hardware , or virtualize them .
With DCIM software , live measured readings from meters and sensors are transformed into actionable insights by trending and forecasting power and environmental metrics so operators know where they are and where they ’ re going .
Real-time charts and reports like PUE , carbon footprint , temperature per cabinet , delta-T per cabinet and stranded power capacity help measure , compare and improve energy efficiency .
Energy cost reports can be generated by data center , business unit , customer , or service / application to identify power hogs and eliminate human error . Next , DCIM software enables operators to dramatically increase energy efficiency .
Built-in cooling charts ensure compliance with manufacturer and industry-accepted temperature and humidity recommendations ( e . g ., ASHRAE ) so operators can save energy by safely increasing temperature set points .
Customer bill back reports accurately allocate energy costs across the organization to drive energy-efficient behavior from internal and external customers .
Last , DCIM software enables operators to maximize the utilization of their existing footprint so they can defer buildouts of power-hungry cabinets or even new data centers .
With the Auto Power Budget feature , operators can automatically calculate power budget profiles for each device instance ( e . g ., make / model of a server ) based on trended actual power utilization . Customers like Comcast and eBay report improvements in rack power utilization by as high as 40 % due to this ability .
Operators can easily find and reserve the perfect place to deploy new equipment to maximize the utilization of cabinet space resources and delay wasteful new buildouts . And with power and environment monitoring with thresholds and alerts , operators are the first to know of conditions that may impact services so they can reduce the risk of downtime caused by energy efficiency initiatives .
How is Sunbird changing the way data centers are being managed ?
Customers tell us that first-generation DCIM tools are difficult to use , slow to deploy and lack integration ,
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