Capacity Planning

Seeing the future – and planning for it – before it happens.

The decision-making challenges associated with capacity planning are unique to each data center and its constituents. But it invariably comes down to aligning the capacity of the data center – in CPU cycles and services – with how much capacity the organization needs from that data center.
True capacity planning means being able to look into the future and estimate future IT needs – what the data center must provide in CPU cycles, storage, space, and power – based on forecasts about what the organization will need two months, one year, even three years from now.

The innovative iTRACS CPIM™ platform offers the insight and the crystal ball you’re looking for. Which is why many global leaders – companies recognized as innovators in both data center design and data center infrastructure management – are using iTRACS CPIM to design and build leading-edge data center solutions. It takes an innovator to know an innovator…

Aligning the data center with the business units it serves.

iTRACS^® nurtures a robust collaborative relationship between IT executives and the business units they serve, identifying future capacity needs and creating strategic alignment to support tomorrow’s business initiatives. Historical analyses, trending reports, and “what if” scenarios give you and your business colleagues detailed insight into:

• Current capacity – how the data center’s resources are currently being used by the business
• Projected future capacity – the new levels of service required from your infrastructure to meet the future needs of the business
• How to get from here to there – the projected Moves, Adds, and Changes (MAC) required to support this future capacity
• Design innovations required to make it happen – the infrastructure improvements that can assure your future capacity needs are met

iTRACS takes historical trends and lets your IT team project them into the future to give you a candid, accurate assessment of future capacity needs. iTRACS then lets you model your capacity strategies using “what if” scenarios – current vs. future states – that can be performed without impacting the live environment. You can predict the impact of Change before you actually go out and implement it. These automated “what if” scenarios are vital for meeting future capacity needs without jeopardizing current business performance.

Scenario #1: Capacity Planning
Adding capacity

Consider this capacity planning scenario. You must meet the future needs of a fast-growing business unit, but you must also stay within the organization’s budget and Green Data Center initiatives:

• Working together with the business, you determine that you must increase their CPU cycles by 62% within 6 weeks
• You’re allowed only 15% additional energy consumption to accomplish this
• And you have only 8% available space left on the floor

With its comprehensive, in-context 3D view of the entire physical infrastructure, iTRACS CPIM™ can see the entire landscape of your assets, identify underperforming servers, assess work plans, and create specific work orders for replacing the older equipment with new servers. The software filters the racks by space, power, and network capacity, displaying a colored-coded map of suggested destinations for the new assets – all automatically. It takes into account the space requirements, energy efficiency, and CPU output of the new servers and creates a complete roadmap for implementation – both power and network connectivity.

iTRACS CPIM™ also shows you what the new infrastructure will look like using interactive 3D visualization that lets you literally take a tour of the data center. You can confirm the capacity plan will turn out as envisioned before you release your IT team to implement it.

Scenario #2: Demand Management
Using the capacity you already have

Consider this demand management scenario. You must meet the future needs of a business unit that’s about to experience an explosion in activity:

• Working together with the business, you determine that the data center must support double the current transaction rates within the next 3 weeks
• But you have no additional capital equipment budget to work with

With its comprehensive real-time 3D view of the entire physical infrastructure and robust analytic capabilities, iTRACS CPIM™ examines current usage and quickly identifies hundreds of underperforming servers, using color-coded 3D visualization so you can see exactly where those servers are. As it turns out, you do not need to buy additional servers to meet demand. The analysis has confirmed that the capacity is already sitting in your data center – there are plenty of servers available right now to help meet demand. All you have to do is use them. No need to spend a single dollar on new equipment.