Intelligent CIO North America Issue 23 | Page 40

FEATURE : DATA CENTER INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT
Meeting the technology demands of modern data centers can be challenging and complex , particularly as the rate of digitalization increases .
Herman Chan , President , Sunbird Software , discusses the benefits of second-generation DCIM and tells us why data center managers are using it to help meet their corporate sustainability goals .
Organizations are consolidating data centers and virtualizing servers to increase efficiency and they need a tool to enable them to do so intelligently .
Data center managers need tools that can integrate seamlessly with each other to drive automation that boosts productivity and increases the accuracy of their data .
Finally , there is increased consumer education of lackluster experience with first-generation DCIM tools . When shopping for DCIM software , data center professionals can more easily spot the difference .

wWhat is second-generation DCIM ?

Second-generation Data Center Infrastructure Management ( DCIM ) software , also known as DCIM G2 , is the class of software that has emerged from legacy DCIM products to dramatically simplify data center management .
This next generation of DCIM resolves the shortfall of functionality experienced with legacy DCIM tools . It provides the capabilities and features data center managers want along with an elegant web-based user interface that gets widely adopted .
What is driving the need for secondgeneration DCIM ?
Modern data centers are constantly changing and traditional management tools no longer get the job done .
Intelligent rack PDUs and other smart devices with sensors are becoming ubiquitous . These devices collect a massive volume and variety of data that must be monitored and analyzed .
Data centers are now distributed across many locations such as colocation , Edge and retail , making a remote management tool a must-have .
Today ’ s data center managers have moved beyond traditional data center management tools . They expect solutions that meet the requirements of modern data center environments and leverage new technology to maintain uptime , drive efficiency and boost productivity . They need second-generation DCIM that is easy , fast and complete .
What are the pain points and pitfalls of first-generation DCIM ?
When Sunbird was formed , we spoke to many customers of first-generation DCIM tools to learn about their pain points . Interestingly , we kept hearing the same stories . The tools are difficult to deploy or require additional clients . Critical features are missing , incomplete , or do not work as expected . Features are modularized and require additional purchases . The user interfaces are outdated and hard to use . The performance is slow . They cannot scale to accommodate the number of devices in modern data centers . The support is terrible .
We listened to these pain points and wanted to do something about them . That ’ s when second-generation DCIM was created .
What sets second-generation DCIM apart ?
While legacy DCIM tools are adequate for some of the most common daily tasks faced by today ’ s data

Providing a solution to the pain points and pitfalls of first-generation DCIM

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