Improving Data Center Management with Centralized Intelligence

Data center infrastructure focuses heavily on hardware: racks, cabinets, PDUs, UPSs, patch panels and more. It’s all about power, cooling, security and making the infrastructure as efficient as possible to streamline management and keep a lid on costs.

Today, software plays an increasingly critical role in day-to-day data center operations. Organizations are moving their data centers into secondary markets, utilizing colocation facilities and pushing out workloads to the network edge. Managing this distributed environment requires software to ease the burden on remote data center staff.

The problem is, managing disparate software tools creates a new set of challenges. Organizations need a platform-based approach that enables a single point of integration and centralized management to gain greater insight into data center operations.

DCIM Is Only the Beginning

For years, data center infrastructure management (DCIM) tools have been touted as a means of holistically managing the data center environment. Most data center operators view it as table stakes — a must-have for maximizing uptime, increasing energy efficiency and improving utilization.

Originally introduced to control power and cooling costs, DCIM has expanded to include asset management, capacity management and data center monitoring. DCIM tools also collect data from the myriad sensors scattered throughout the data center to provide visibility into environmental conditions.

But IT teams are finding that they need additional tools to close the gaps left by DCIM. They are using an array of applications to optimize their data center environments, driving the need for a platform-based approach.

Data Center Asset Management

Maintaining an accurate and up-to-date inventory of data center assets has long been a pain point for data center teams. While DCIM tools have some asset management capabilities, dedicated asset management solutions provide a more robust toolset that helps optimize the entire lifecycle of IT assets.

Best-in-class asset management solutions help IT teams track and manage warranties and gain the insight needed to budget and forecast product upgrades. They also provide greater visibility into connected devices and aid in managing software licenses.

Cloud-Based Physical Security

Video surveillance is essential for physical security, but managing traditional solutions can be costly and time-consuming. Cloud-based security has emerged as a compelling alternative.

These solutions upload video directly from IP cameras to a cloud server, eliminating the need for onsite network video recorders. They also provide a single point of management across multiple sites. Cloud-based security solutions are highly scalable, making it easy to add cameras to new and existing locations. They are also future proof, with automatic upgrades and access to the latest features.

Automated Infrastructure Management

Automated infrastructure management (AIM) provides much-needed visibility into the network infrastructure and connected equipment, enabling IT teams to locate available ports and specific devices, detect the insertion or removal of cords, and more. AIM also documents the cabling infrastructure, eliminating time-consuming and error-prone manual processes.

Because it monitors the network infrastructure in real time, AIM makes it easier for administrators to troubleshoot problems. By tracking utilization of ports, panels and cabling, AIM also helps data center operators optimize capacity and repurpose stranded switch ports. The result is increased efficiency and availability and reduced costs.

Thermal Management

About 40 percent a data center’s energy consumption is attributed to cooling, yet thermal issues still account for almost a third of unplanned outages. Ever-increasing data center densities have exposed the limitations of DCIM for identifying thermal risk.

Specialized thermal management software uses advanced analytics to identify potential hotspots and predict power fluctuations, enabling operations teams to adjust thermal management strategies proactively. As such, thermal management solutions help reduce the risk of unplanned downtime, lower cooling costs and support ESG initiatives.

Bringing It All Together

Wesco offers complete solutions for the next-generation data center, including a full suite of software tools. By integrating all of these software tools into one platform, organizations can simplify management and view all critical data through a browser-based interface. That’s where Wesco’s entroCIM digital solution comes into play.

entroCIM provides integration with data center and building management systems. It also collects data from IoT devices throughout the facility, transforming this data into actionable insights with ready-to-use dashboards and powerful visualizations. Operations teams can access real-time energy usage, schedule maintenance, share reports and control building operations — all from one console.

Organizations need an array of software tools to effectively manage today’s data centers, but a fragmented approach can leave gaps and cause administrative headaches. A platform-based approach reduces complexity and provides a view of critical data to help improve productivity and energy savings.