Defining a Dynamic Data Center for Sustainability Strategies

Continued growth is expected in the emerging DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management) market, which may reach about $1 billion in 2016. In 2013, the efficiency industry was driven by green technology such as energy management software and virtual audits. It is also noted that in past year, the energy efficiency market gained greater acceptance from large commercial customers, according to executives at Johnson Controls and Groom Energy. On the other hand, executives from Aircuity and FirstFuel shared that better data and reporting helped the market, while Conservation Service Group CEO Stephen Cowell said technology and market convergence were responsible for growth.

Many have largely viewed DCIM as a hardware issue, but in reality, it goes beyond being a hardware concern. Rather, it is more about (the) data that is managed, monitored and analysed.” Digital Reality says that DCIM needs to focus on connectivity between all the systems inside the center. An inter-connected view of a data center enables users to project an energy capacity-building that will help firms effectively grow their businesses.

And like most emerging markets, over the past several years there have been many entrants, views and varied approaches on the market definition of a data management center, according to an Energy Manager Today article. However there are some significant views raised by Herman Chan, SVP Marketing & GM DCIM at Raritan Inc. on Technology trends in 2014 that are worth taking note of:

• Big data and cloud computing will continue to be transformational influences on data centers.
• There will be a 25%  surge in cloud spending, reaching over $100B, says research firm IDC. This will result in a dramatic increase in the number of data centers to support growing cloud players.
• The insatiable appetite for social media, new media and mobile apps will continue to contribute to the creation of both structured and unstructured data at an unprecedented rate. Digital data consumption will double about every two years from now until 2020.

Chan further adds that data centers will look for better and more efficient ways to manage and expand their underlying infrastructures. Game changers are bound to introduce new data center models and transform their data centers to make them more nimble and resource efficient. And with the uncontrolled rising costs of energy, floor space, operations and the increasing business demands, data centers will continue to drive the adoption of DCIM solutions that provide real-time visuals – including views of all the equipment supporting a service application.

What is crucial to creating dynamic data centers?

It is inevitable that companies will benefit from energy data management systems to be able to track, validate and accurately verify the business’ energy consumption, in addition to identifying weak points of their energy infrastructure. It is from this kind of data center that recommended solutions for energy efficiency will be derived. These solutions are expected to have an impact not only on the corporations’s economic goals, but even their sustainability objectives as a whole—leaving no stones unturned in the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems that form the facility’s infrastructure, as well as the servers and racks that compose the heart of the IT setup.

But given the external pressures from data and cloud computing demands, the increase in data centers (including  storage and energy requirements), and other data-driven trends, existing data management centers will also need upgrades. This will cost businesses with construction variations and even equipment integrations in several cases.

These, plus the ever-changing demands that include high energy costs, government regulations and directives on measuring data center energy efficiency, require a superb dynamic data center that is cap-able of better use of data and considers new approaches to equipment integration and operational savings instead of having equipment retrofits. This is why it is important to implement the appropriate balance of tools and innovations to deploy capacity on demand where both costs and consumption are reduced.

FCS can recommend ways on how to improve sustainability and energy efficiency. FCS brings a complete array of energy management services that suit different needs of clients and creates programs that allow them to save on energy costs and consumption to improve an organization’s bottom line. Click on the links below to request a consultation with out corporate sustainability experts today.