Shrink a two-hour task down to 15 minutes.

These are the kinds of efficiency gains with Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) that have Gary Bunyan pretty excited. Gary is a Global DCIM Solutions Specialist with iTRACS and in his recent column for Data Center Knowledge, Gary shared his enthusiasm about what DCIM can mean to a user organization.

Gary talked about three different customers and how they’re able to leverage the inherent flexibility of DCIM with Interactive 3D Visualization to match their own specific infrastructure management needs.

As Gary writes, “These customers get it – when the DCIM environment is flexible enough to adapt its tools and workflows to the client needs – rather than forcing them to adapt to its own – this gives customers a great chance at some early quick wins and a rapid payback. They’re free to fluidly explore and use the solution in any way they prefer, literally on-the-fly, leveraging its database and tool set to uncover information and drive efficiency in ways that were, frankly, unimaginable before.”

So how did one of Gary’s customers, a U.S.-based enterprise organization, achieve a 87% time savings using DCIM?

Gary explains it as follows:

“They had been using a manual process to put together work orders for technicians to carry on the floor when making moves, adds and changes to the data center infrastructure. It was a laborious two-hour process to pump out 50 of these work actions, and the technicians ended up with notes, spreadsheets and other materials to sift through as they tried to figure out which server goes where, power connectivity, network connectivity and so on. It was a productivity killer.

With DCIM’s automated commissioning engine, however, those 50 work actions can now be created in less than 15 minutes. Using an array of DCIM functions integrated into a process that fits the customer’s defined requirements, the customer simply tells the DCIM software what to do, and it does the rest:

• Finds the right space for the physical asset – where it goes
• Determines the power connectivity, including redundant power as needed
• Determines the network connectivity – exactly what cable goes into which port, etc.
• Outputs the work orders with clear step-by-step directions, including visuals to make sure there can be no misinterpretation
• Lets the customer share the work orders with other constituents via CSV, reports, or other formats
• Provides automatic updates of work progress and status”

This sounds like the kind of efficiency breakthrough EVERYONE can get excited about. Read Gary’s full column here.

“There are a number of vendors on the cusp of DCIM.”

IDC explains that “there are quite a few companies that can perform part of a true DCIM player’s roles. However, IDC believes that the true value of DCIM is in bringing together facilities and IT to address concerns in the datacenter around space, power, and cooling.”

In other words, vendors that can do a specific piece – but not the whole – are at the fringe.

iTRACS is proud to be named an IDC Major Player in DCIM, and invites you to read IDC’s analysis of the company In the IDC MarketScape report.

Why has IDC recognized iTRACS as a leader in DCIM?

Several specific capabilities are mentioned in the IDC research:

Interactive 3D visualization:  “Visibility is both 3D and real time within CPIM and this visualization capability is a significant strength and differentiator of the iTRACS solution.”

What-if scenarios:  “In addition to viewing the current spatial relationships of all assets, the product offers the ability to view future relationships. The visual and predictive ‘what if’ capability is a powerful tool for risk avoidance, forecasting and capacity planning.”

Automation: “With CPIM, users can dynamically manage physical assets via comprehensive toolkits and automated workflows, thereby eliminating manual steps which often can induce errors and delay problem resolution.”

Enterprise scale: “IDC finds that iTRACS provides a very capable product that fits well with larger, more advanced datacenter environments.”

iTRACS Customer Value Lifecycle™ (deployment methodology): “IDC believes that this comprehensive approach does provide the basis for the holistic view of the management of the physical infrastructure. It offers a means to converge people, processes, and technologies and ensures that all stakeholders can access the same information in real time and that the information is actionable.”

For the full review of iTRACS, read the report.

Data Center Knowledge and many others in the industry have been watching this for a while now. Recently, DCK offered an interesting perspective. They took six recent columns from their DCK Industry Perspectives channel and put them together for readers to explore.

“Recently, DCIM has become the buzzword in the marketplace,” wrote DCK. “What Data Center Infrastructure Management tools really are and what they can do for you has been the topic of several recent guest columns in the Industry Perspectives channel. We’ve brought them together for your reading enjoyment.”

Among the six columns are three by Gary Bunyan, Global DCIM Solutions Specialist at iTRACS. Gary works with data center owners and operators around the world to help them optimize their physical infrastructures. Each month, he explores “the user experience” of DCIM in an Industry Perspectives column for DCK. He writes about how his customers are using DCIM tools to change how the data center is seen, managed, and optimized.

Here are his three columns – brought together, as DCK suggests, to help you get a handle on what DCIM is and what it can mean for your operation:

Notes from the Road #1: DCIM User Experience

When it comes to DCIM user interfaces, Gary has a unique definition of usability. The question he asks isn’t, how easy is it to use? The question is, Can I do what I need to do to manage my infrastructure – and how efficiently can I do it?

Notes from the Road #2: Tearing Down the Silos

Gary isn’t saying DCIM is a social network – but he thinks it’s close. DCIM socializes information and tears down the silos between IT, Facilities, Building Management Systems, and Business.

Notes from the Road #3: 3D is Great, But Insight is What Counts

Gary explains how DCIM is being used to solve both operational challenges like power management and strategic challenges like capacity planning.

Enjoy.

According to an April 10 story in the eBay News Room, there’s “a lot of green goodness” going on lately, including the company’s largest solar installation to date. It’s a 665 kilowatt (kW) solar power system featuring 72,000 square feet of solar panels, covering virtually every foot of roof space on top of the Topaz data center located in South Jordan, Utah. Given the Utah sun, this is prime real estate for a solar installation.

• The Topaz rooftop features 2,375 solar panels
• The installation will produce 924,013 kilowatt hours (kWh) of clean electricity annually – this is equivalent to offsetting 702 tons of greenhouse gas emissions or planting 136 acres of trees
• The Topaz solar array, combined with renewable installations in California and Colorado, brings eBay’s total renewable energy capacity to almost 2 megawatts – about 11 percent of eBay’s total U.S. data center electricity demand
• The investment is projected to pay for itself within four years, says eBay, thanks to lower electricity bills, tax incentives, and Federal stimulus dollars

eBay recognizes there’s always more to do. Example? The renewable energy project at Topaz will generate less than 10% of the total load of that data center. Recognizing the limitations this represents, eBay says it is committed to continue to do “what we can, where we can, to source greener, cleaner energy.”

“Along the way,” the company says, “we hope our efforts—the successes and the challenges—will help other companies and organizations see their role in achieving a sustainable, clean energy future in a new and, hopefully, optimistic light.”

As the march towards a greener data center industry continues, some very cool things are happening in some very hot places.

All over the world, with some locations being more attractive than others.

One country seems to be working extra hard to make itself appealing as a site for hosting the world’s information – Iceland.  In a recent Bloomberg article reported in The Economic Times, Iceland proudly pointed to its cool temperatures, geothermal energy, and location between North America and Europe as selling points for why it will become an increasingly popular destination for green IT.

Jeff Monroe is CEO of Verne Global, a venture launched by Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson (a former banker and Iceland’s first billionaire) to capture a piece of the green data center market. “Iceland happens to be a rare spot on the earth where there is a convergence of attributes that tick all the boxes,” says Mr. Monroe. “You have 100% renewable energy. We can do 100% free cooling.”

Verne Global has already built a $700 million data center in Iceland in a former NATO air force base. “The project relies on renewable energy from hydroelectric and geothermal power plants,” reports The Economic Times. “The site is equipped with heat wheels that funnel hot air out and cool air in, a lower-cost alternative to standard air conditioning.”

Verne Global, like many other businesses, sees a huge upside in this kind of data center. How big will green get?  Investment in energy-efficient server farms will skyrocket to $41 billion by 2015, according to Pike Research.

To tap that kind of market potential, Iceland, according to The Economic Times, is “seeking to reinvent itself as a secure data haven halfway between Europe and North America as it recovers from a near total economic collapse and the 2008 failure of its top lenders. That nascent effort will get a boost from a link to Emerald, a $300 million undersea cable stretching from the west coast of Ireland to New York slated to be completed next spring. To spur tech investment, Iceland has also reduced duties on imports of equipment.”

Looks like things are heating up in some very cool places.