Pity the Fool Not Using Data Center Management Tools

Jeff Klaus, General Manager of Intel Data Center Management Solutions

Data center operators need to take a lesson from Mr. T. Among other things, this legendary man is notoriously known for loading up his neck with gold chains. While some might think his jewelry taste is excessive—according to Mr. T himself—every piece he wears serves a purpose. You see, Mr. T understands that if you have a tool (especially one in gold), you need to use it.

He’s right by the way. In the data center world, a manager’s gold chains are the sensors that are already installed in your organization’s hardware. By tapping into your data center’s bling, companies can receive real-time insights into the day-to-day operations to better monitor usage and make data-driven, informed decisions. Why wouldn’t you want to more accurately predict the impact on your environment?!

So in the spirit of Mr. T, can’t you see how foolish it is to not take advantage of data center management tools?

Fighting the (Already Messy) Nature of Data Centers

With data center managers fighting to keep up with changes in cloud environments, rising IoT demands and fierce industry competition, data center management tools are key to staying one step ahead of changing workloads.

By taking advantage of the sensors available in your infrastructure, data center management tools provide visibility by automating the collection, management and analysis of health, power and temperature readings—at the individual device level. With these granular insights, data center managers can improve capacity planning, reduce energy consumption, and strategize new equipment outlays using predictions based on actual usage data. By increasing visibility into operations, data center managers have the means to optimize their environments leading to less outages and resolved capacity issues.

Making Data-Driven Decisions

Over the past few years, data center managers have been increasingly working to keep their infrastructure at top performance to meet the growing list of demands from customers. In fact, our recent survey found that 55% of organizations’ main priority is data center expansion, which indicates that data center operators feel they have maxed out the existing infrastructure.

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are making it easier for teams to monitor how an environment is operating and where improvements can be made. Although the thought of adopting next generation technologies can be daunting, the reality of modernizing your infrastructure with AI or machine learning features is not far off. 78% of IT teams report that they currently use AI-driven features offered by their data center management tools. These advancements are making it possible for data center teams to lower operational costs, optimize both on and off-prem environments, and adapt quickly to workload demands.

By taking advantage of the sensors available in your infrastructure, data center management tools provide visibility by automating the collection, management and analysis of health, power and temperature readings—at the individual device level.

Follow Mr T’s Golden Rule… 

…the man with the gold rules. While taking data center management tips from Mr. T may seem like the biggest April Fool’s joke, you have to admit he’s got an eye for the best value. This is the same skill that data center managers need when looking for a golden partner with the best management tool. A data center management tool that offers real-time monitoring will not only provide complete visibility into all aspects of IT operations, it will give data center managers analytics that show how to unlock the true potential of their infrastructure.

By adding a data center management solution to your organization’s technology portfolio, data center managers are able to modernize their data center operations and receive actionable data that optimizes their infrastructure for peak performance. Avoid being pitied and don’t be a fool, get yourself a data center management tool.

Jeff Klauss is the General Manager of Data Center Software Solutions at Intel.