Data center silos and bridging the gaps

Data centre silos have been a significant problem for as long as there have been data centres. Despite all the obvious advantages of working as one team towards a common goal, IT, networking and facilities management teams are notorious for not communicating with each other and pursuing differing priorities. They typically do not even share a common set of goals, let alone a common toolset.

In the critical environment of a data centre, this silo mentality can have predictable results. From an operational viewpoint, when managers purchase infrastructure such as routers, firewalls, switches, servers and storage in isolation to scale their particular requirement without considering the building infrastructure implications, it can lead to capacity, incompatibility and stability issues or, in the worst-case scenario, complete system overload.

Data centre managers are compelled to devote a disproportionate amount of time to reducing spiralling operational and capex costs while trying to meet increasing business demands. 

Yet neither tribe recognises their dependency on the other nor understands how their unilateral decisions can have a devastating impact on data centre risk and service availability as a whole.

Unforeseen consequences

Data centres are extremely sensitive environments. Valuable IT equipment comes with a complex support structure that includes state-of-the-art technologies, telecoms networks, intricate cooling and ventilation systems, power conditioning, battery rooms, switches, emergency generators, biometric security and monitoring systems.

All are closely interlinked: modify a seemingly insignificant aspect of the data centre environment and it could have unforeseen knock-on effects on the rest of the ecosystem. It is an absolute imperative from an operational perspective to bring all the elements of a data centre’s infrastructure together to reduce this avoidable risk while at the same time maximising the effective use of available capacity.

Furthermore, at a time when data centres are under increasing pressure to operate more sustainably, silo working is an incredibly inefficient use of expensive resources: energy, cooling, space and skilled labour.

Age-old problem

This is not a new dilemma. The late Ken Brill, founder of the Uptime Institute, referenced the problem of silos as far back as 2006. However, there has been little success in tackling this problem since.

The only way data centres can become resource-efficient is by having toolsets that give a single view of all assets and their performance across multiple sites to force collaboration between the different specialisms within a data centre. That was the original laudable aim of DCIM. Instead, today’s reality is a mishmash of tools from different manufacturers that don’t talk to each other and are specific to different departments.

RiT Tech’s XpedITe doesn’t claim to solve this problem but it does at least provide the common toolset capable of integrating with key legacy systems that is essential to bringing the different parties together.

Redefining DCIM

This is no mere marketing promise. XpedITe has already connected over 50 million managed ports, across multiple sites for more than 60 large-scale data centres worldwide. Clients include telecoms, financial institutions, colocation and edge service providers who rely on XpedITe for accurate asset visibility, deployment efficiency and unambiguous communication between remote teams.

Acting as an all-seeing eye, XpedITe collects real-time data directly from the IT devices to deliver value to both IT and Facilities teams. It improves everyday operations by instantly detecting points of failure and breaches of physical network security, optimising network pathways and mitigating the risk of downtime. In this way, it removes a heavy burden from the shoulders of all those responsible for the continuity of digital services.

Bringing to life the lofty ideals envisioned for DCIM, XpedITe breaks down silos and opens up an extensive knowledge chain and information exchange across the whole business, creating a significant competitive advantage in a booming market.