A lot of very smart people are working on this. As Wired.com recently wrote, “What’s the best way to measure the efficiency of a data center? No one really knows. But there’s no shortage of IT minds trying to figure it out.”

Recently, iTRACS, the global leader in enterprise-class DCIM solutions, announced a new set of efficiency metrics called DCIM Business Output™ that is poised to take the industry closer to a new way of measuring efficiency.

DCIM Business Output™ attempts to measure the ratio between business output delivered by IT assets and the energy/cost required to deliver it: business value achieved vs. the energy/cost to achieve it.

DCIM Business Output™ accomplishes this by using device-level data to measure business output and energy consumption at the individual asset level. This is where the iTRACS partnership with Intel plays such an important role. Under the partnership agreement, the Intel Data Center Manager software suite will be integrated with iTRACS Converged Physical Infrastructure Management™ (CPIM™), broadening the iTRACS PowerEye™ strategy through the collection, management, and analysis of power, temperature, and environmental information at the device level (CPU).

This takes the industry is one step closer to attaining the ultimate measure of efficiency by comparing two key metrics at the asset level:

• Business output – what is each asset accomplishing for the business? (CPU cycles etc.)
• Energy consumption – how much energy is that asset consuming to generate that output?

The first proposed metric in the DCIM Business Output™ series is Asset Efficiency. This compares CPU utilization vs. power usage at the individual device level, creating an opportunity to conduct asset-to-asset comparisons to determine which asset is delivering business value at the highest efficiency.

This “asset vs. asset” example demonstrates how a data center owner or operator might use the Asset Efficiency metric. In this example, Server B, which has the potential to deliver higher business output, is actually running less efficiently than Server A. This is a problem for both the business and the planet. Using this information, the data center might take steps to increase server utilization, or, if necessary, swap out older energy-guzzling assets for newer, more energy-efficient ones.

Next up: The second metric, IT Efficiency

“According to IDC analysis and buyer perception, iTRACS is an IDC MarketScape Major Player worldwide. The company performed well in criteria regarding business strategy and capabilities – in particular, its innovation, funding, and employee management scored high,” IDC stated.

Among its many important insights, the analyst firm also made this recommendation:

“Even as IDC was formulating this MarketScape, the landscape was changing. New partnerships, product capabilities, and even the players themselves continue to take shape. However, this is no reason to wait to adopt DCIM because a lack of knowledge and orchestration in the datacenter is a threat to efficiency and availability daily.”

IDC was saying, essentially, don’t delay on DCIM simply because the marketplace is evolving.  The stakes are too high to sit on the sidelines.

And what are the stakes IDC referred to?

Efficiency and availability.

We couldn’t agree more.

As iTRACS VP of Converged Solutions Dan Fry wrote in his recent Green Data Center: Myth vs. Reality article, “efficiency is all about doing the most with what you already have – or making do with less.”

This means using DCIM to acquire meaningful, actionable information about where data center inefficiencies exist and how to correct them without putting your operation at risk. DCIM with Interactive 3D Visualization creates a centralized, single-pane view of the entire physical infrastructure so you can see and understand the complex interrelationships between all of your assets across IT, Facilities, and Business Management Systems.

The bottom line is this: You need to manage this infrastructure with brains, not brawn. You cannot afford to make changes haphazardly or, in the pursuit of efficiency, put your service levels at risk or create other unforeseen issues. You need comprehensive insight and knowledge that drive informed decsision-making and eliminate guesswork from the equation.

This is the kind of knowledge that DCIM with Interactive 3D Visualization puts at your fingertips. Knowledge that can help protect and nurture both your efficiency and your availability.

Ask Elizabeth Given, President and CEO of iTRACS, and she’ll tell you that’s an important take-away from the recent announcement that iTRACS has been named an IDC Major Player Worldwide in Data Center Infrastructure Management.

“iTRACS provides a very capable product that fits well with larger, more advanced datacenter environments. It has very capable employees, great marketing, and a sound financial base,” IDC stated in its January 2012 report, IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Datacenter Infrastructure Management (DCIM) 2011 Vendor Analysis.

“We’re proud to be recognized by IDC as leaders in DCIM,” Ms. Given said. “We believe this is a validation of iTRACS’ long tradition of delivering demonstrable business value to customers – value that is quantifiable, continuous, and strategic.”

In addition to evaluating vendors, the IDC MarketScape report made a number of observations about the evolution of the DCIM space that aligned with iTRACS’ own evolution as a DCIM vendor, Ms. Given said. She pointed to three in particular.

Convergence – “We launched our Converged Physical Infrastructure Management™ (CPIM™) solution three years ago knowing that IT, Facilities, and Building Management Systems could not continue to operate as independent silos if data centers were to achieve breakthrough improvements in energy efficiency, cost reduction, and space utilization. Convergence was inevitable – and now it is here.”

Efficiency – “We agree with IDC that efficiency, availability, and cost are the key drivers in the data center, especially around the challenges of space, power, and cooling. Efficiency is the holy grail because it feeds into so many enterprise-wide improvements. This is why customers and partners like Intel and CA Technologies are working with iTRACS to evolve new efficiency metrics – what we’re calling DCIM Business Output™ – that reflect the unique challenges of both IT and Facilities, and the value proposition of DCIM.”

Single-Pane View – “We agree with IDC that some type of orchestration is needed to keep power, cooling, space, servers, networking, and storage in equilibrium. That’s why we engineered an open systems, single-pane view of 
the data center that offers point-and-click navigability through the entire physical infrastructure. It’s an integrated enterprise-class solution that orchestrates the management of the physical layer.”

This is a lively debate fostering a lot of creative, insightful dialog about where the data center world is heading.

And in a world of skyrocketing energy costs and troublesome carbon footprints, it’s not just a healthy discussion – it’s a critical one.

Now another voice has been added to the mix. Dan Fry, VP of Converged Solutions at iTRACS, has just published his perspective on the green data center in Computer Technology Review.

According to Fry, the holy grail isn’t to be green. It’s to be efficient.

“Everyone understands the need to be green – but what they really need is to be efficient,” Fry says. “The more efficient the IT operation, the higher the value delivered to the business. In the case of energy, this means ensuring that every kilowatt consumed contributes to the delivery of quantifiable value to the business (measurable business output) rather than merely supporting the environment. The driver is efficiency. The result is green.”

Fry goes on to elaborate on two Myths (common wisdoms) about the green data center that, as he puts it, “may not be so wise after all.”

He also introduces what iTRACS is calling DCIM Business Output™ – a new series of Efficiency Metrics that attempts to measure the efficiency with which IT delivers value to the business.

Says Fry, “DCIM Business Output™ attempts to measure the ratio between business output delivered by IT assets and the energy/cost required to deliver it: business value achieved vs. the energy/cost to achieve it. In other words – what are the specific business results generated by IT infrastructure and what is the energy/cost required to generate those results?”

He says DCIM Business Output™ is not meant to replace PUE, but to augment it. PUE is a very effective metric but it is facilities-centric. DCIM Business Output™ is IT-centric, Fry explains.

It’s a good read – check it out.

Reports PCWorld, “The build-out is strongly backed by the Chinese government, which has made expanding the national computing infrastructure a part of its latest five-year plan. And local governments are funding the development of vast cloud cities – industrial zones that aim to provide the foundations to support as many as 20 data centers over time.”

Of course there are a number of major challenges in a build-out this massive, especially for outside companies seeking to participate. These include:

• Governmental policy and regulations, such as ownership rights for data and other assets
• Securing adequate bandwidth
• Securing adequate power
• Carbon footprint

Everything in China is magnified, given the staggering size of the country. “China has almost five times the population of the U.S., so our problems are five times greater,” Sheldon He, a product marketing manager with Intel, reminded PCWorld. But he added, “If we can succeed in solving these problems it could lead to innovation.”

Not just innovation, but big-time innovation.