The term Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) is a new set of solutions that manages the physical IT infrastructure of your enterprise.  They were created to give the IT or Facilities manager, a platform where information of all the physical assets and resources being used in running the entire IT and building could be viewed.

DCIM, in effect, forges a bridge between the two worlds of IT and building infrastructure and provides a management platform for more effective administration.

The driving factors behind this solution is the empowerment of the IT/ Facilities manager to make an informed decision based on relevant real time information. The Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) solution should allow the managing and planning the capacity used by the IT infrastructure as a whole,understanding the lifecycle of each asset, making an informed decision as to the most efficient way to power and cool the infrastructure and following on from this, work towards reducing PUE (Power Usage Eeffectiveness incorporating energy efficiency standards like ISO 50001

. The foundation of this technology is the managing of various network protocols like SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) or BACnet (building automation and control networks) and storing the information in a database.

“the Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) solution should allow the managing and planning the capacity used by the IT infrastructure as a whole,understanding the lifecycle of each asset, making an informed decision as to the most efficient way to power and cool the infrastructure….”

There are many reasons why the introduction of this management platform can be of benefit to the company as a whole. Firstly, the reduction in power consumption. Although Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) solutions are generally monitoring tools allowing the IT/Facilities manager make corrective decisions, identify potential weak or faulty equipment, identify peak load capacity and conversely when its load is at its minimum, they can also allow programs to make automated corrective decisions (Not all DCIM solutions can do this. Read about Rittal Rizone for more information) based say on the critical analysis of the power consumption being used all the time. This can allow further data centre energy and building cost reduction. Rizone is a DCIM solution created by the IT infrastructure company, Rittal, one of our partners here a Hybrid TP. Rizone allows for integration with Microsoft’s System Centre Operation Manger to give a smart solution to how load and usage is managed.
We here at Hybrid TP have become partners with Rittal in looking after the DCIM aspect of their business in Ireland. If you work for in an industry that has a high reliance on the redundancy of its IT Infrastructure but your also looking to manage your cost in the ever spiraling utilities market then feel free to give a call on 061-211444 or 1800-911 000 and we’ll be delighted to field any questions you may have.
Stephen Hughes