Factors to consider when adopting a DCIM solution

Author: Mark Acton Data Centre Consultant & Chartered Engineer

DCIM, or Data Center Infrastructure Management, has historically been fairly maligned. While Gartner coined the acronym a decade or so ago, the analysts neglected to clearly define precisely what it meant so, over the ensuing decade, companies with something to sell took it to mean all manner of things, including products that were little more than monitoring tools.

Belatedly, Gartner more helpfully defined DCIM as being tools that “monitor, measure, manage and/or control data center utilization and energy consumption of all IT-related equipment (such as servers, storage and network switches) and facility infrastructure components (such as power distribution units [PDUs] and computer room air conditioners [CRACs]).”

But the damage was done. Ambitious marketing departments’ over-ambitious use of the term DCIM resulted in disappointment and failure leaving the acronym with a persistent negative perception and unsuitable tools often ending up being expensive shelfware. This is unjust for three reasons.

Firstly, many of the tools purporting to be DCIM systems patently weren’t. Secondly, even the few that did meet the Gartner definition were so cumbersome and time-consuming to implement that it’s unlikely they were ever set up properly. Thirdly, the technology and ease of implementation has dramatically improved over the past decade. Despite the initial disappointment, the basic need for the correct tools has not only not gone away but it has increased significantly.

Now, with its pioneering XpedITe tool, leading automation specialist RiT Tech aims to ditch the baggage that follows DCIM around like a clingy ex. Mark Acton, Business Strategy and Technology Director for RiT Tech, explains DCIM’s persistent poor reputation is caused by DCIM having been “mis-marketed, mis-sold and misunderstood. People still forget that the ‘M’ stands for ‘management’, not ‘monitoring’.”

XpedITe, on the other hand, is a DCIM in its truest sense – connecting clients’ infrastructure and network in one platform, while fully automating and optimising its daily operation.

This makes it an invaluable management tool for data centre managers, giving them a single source of truth about what’s going on across their infrastructure, IT and networks, all of which are becoming increasingly complex, more widely dispersed and difficult to manage.

XpedITe excels at the core functions of in-depth data centre infrastructure management, analysis and asset management but crucially doesn’t purport to do everything, as many vendors have done in the past.

Instead, its creators have ensured that it integrates easily and superbly well with other specialist tools performing a variety of functions as diverse as building management systems (BMS), ITIL change management and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

But technology aside, any business considering investing in DCIM should first answer three all-important questions.

Factors to consider

1.     What business needs will your DCIM tool address?

What RiT Tech is offering with XpedITe is a transformational DC management tool but, to get any value out of it, organisations need to be clear about their business requirements. The system will generate a vast amount of data but this has to be turned into insights that are meaningful to your business. Collecting data is essential but making use of it by turning that data into useful management information still frequently eludes many in the data centre sector.

So when considering a DCIM investment the first step is to forget about the technology and instead think seriously about the business need(s) it will address. What is its purpose? How will the data be used and what elements of that information does each stakeholder need to see?

2.    How interoperable is it?

When it comes to technology platforms, few businesses have the luxury of starting with a clean slate so next you need to think about how it will work with all your existing systems. Legacy systems typically perform highly specific roles that are crucial to the business’ operations and hold many years’ worth of valuable data, which will need to remain accessible.

It's an inescapable fact that there is no single DCIM system on the market that can do everything you might want so it’s vital your chosen DCIM “plays well with others” and is easy to integrate.

3.    Can you commit the resources to make it work?

Lastly, think realistically about the practicalities. A DCIM solution is not a shrink-wrapped, out-of-the box product, ready to drop onto the server and download.

In fact, the best options will be highly customisable with the ability to be tailored to your organisation’s specific requirements. They need to be capable of working across several disparate company sites, including Edge Data Centres, in multiple geographies. On top of all that, they must be configurable to reflect your corporate policies, procedures and rules.

This means considerable time and effort will need to be invested to get your chosen system up-and-running and deliver the promised return on investment. Failure to recognise this was behind the downfall and disappointment of many DCIM systems in the past.

However, the latest DCIM offerings – like XpedITe – have been designed with inbuilt flexibility and low cost, easy processes so customers can reap all of the benefits without the headaches of the past.

While DCIM is dogged by a legacy of ineffective deployments, the concept is based on sound principles as well as a genuine and growing need. With data centres becoming ever more complex, old-school spreadsheets and asset registers are no longer up to the job of effective management and an automated solution is sorely needed.

The time for DCIM 2.0 has come.