Micro data centers differentiate themselves from other prefabricated designs with their ability to pack a lot into a very small environment. For example, one of these data centers can include 20 servers that harness virtualization technology, switches that take up only one or two rack units, cooling and a UPS system. Need more than that? Just add another box. This method is quick to deploy, highly scalable and creates a uniform design so technology support knows exactly what’s going on.
All signs indicate that 2016 will be a year of many challenges. Disruptive technologies will be introduced, the exponential increase in computing power will continue, while businesses will demand a prompt response to quickly changing requirements. At the same time the requirement to be highly resource efficient will stay the same.
As a result of these challenges we predict these changes will emerge in 2016:
CA Technologies has decided to get out of the data center infrastructure management market, where it was considered one of the leaders.
The New York-based IT infrastructure management software giant will no longer sell its stand-alone DCIM software solution, called CA DCIM, which has been deployed in data centers operated by Facebook and NTT-owned RagingWire, among others.
Growing complexity in the today’s data centers has increased the risk of combining power, cooling, racks, cabling and management components to run an efficient facility due to the shortage of essential skills needed to design and integrate them.
Smart organizations therefore have turned to tightly integrated, aisle-based physical infrastructure modules, or PODs, along with non-containerized integrated infrastructure solutions to optimize the use of power, space and cooling capacity while simplifying specification, design, validation, procurement and installation.
A good power and cooling strategy is no longer enough to maximize efficiency in today’s modern data center. Indeed, a future in which all devices and networks are connected requires data center design elements that can evolve with the Internet of Everything and the related demands of hyper-connectivity.
Your data center is supporting more users, more business use cases, and a lot more data. Digital content and the Internet of Things are generating ever more data and will continue to do so. All of this places resource challenges on the data center facility.
While network closets take on all shapes and sizes, they are essentially an arm of the data center. As an important component of all mission-critical environments, the network closet must be organized, protected and managed efficiently and effectively. IT professionals are charged with keeping the technology infrastructure functioning, even in the face of constrained resources and increasing complexity.
Knowledge is power. As a colocation customer, can you imagine having real-time information on the power, cooling, and relative humidity being supplied to your IT assets available 24/7 on your mobile device? Plus, what if there were a way to verify whether or not your SLAs are being fulfilled?
Organizations are currently adopting a number of new thermal management strategies and technologies to remove heat from the data center while achieving capital and operational savings. One of the most effective strategies is optimizing existing thermal management systems with intelligent controls that span both the unit and system levels to enable greater availability, efficiency and decision-making.
After a couple of years of DCIM buzz, the hype has died down, and while analysts are forecasting healthy growth for the DCIM software market overall, they expect most of that growth to happen among a handful of the biggest players in the space. What may make DCIM software increasingly relevant is progress in Big Data analytics.
