What Data Center Infrastructure Management Can Do for Your Business

Most IT professionals know about the importance of data centers today. But perhaps many do not see a significant need to implement DCIM solutions in their data centers. Instead of Data Center Infrastructure Management, they tend to adopt their own version of DCIM, which goes something like “Don’t Care I’ll Manage.” Businesses that ignore DCIM might find data centers no more useful than the all-too-common combination mop closet/computer room.

The biggest threat when you don’t have an effective DCIM strategy is that you may experience more data center downtime when a fault occurs. For mission critical business models, data center downtime, even for a matter of seconds, could prove expensive catastrophic. With a well-planned DCIM solution, you can rectify faults without having to disrupt key business services.

Another consequence would be lack of awareness on how to identify the problem prone area because of inefficiencies in building planning, hardware installation, and outdated documentation. As the delay in fixing a data center outage increases, so will the cost.

Next up is the cost factor. Several data center owners continue to complain about high cost of operation and maintenance. This is because of lack of planning. If there is no DCIM solution, it is difficult or nearly impossible to estimate the IT budget to be kept aside for data centers.

DCIM is an sensible technology where data centers are concerned, and enterprises that use data centers for their key business processes should considering placing DCIM high on the list of IT priorities.

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.