FACILITIES management
tablets, some of which can cost $1,000 or more per unit. IT asset management systems keep constant track of each and every device, and can even re-discover lost or “orphaned” equipment. As a result, according to Gartner6
, the use of IT asset management systems can
save organizations 30% in equipment costs during the fi rst year and at least 5% in each of the subsequent fi ve years, resulting in value that often more than justifi es the cost of the entire IIM system. Equally important in an era of rising governmental scrutiny, IIMs automate the equipment documentation process by monitoring the status, attributes, physical locations and movements of all network assets.
£ Security: 51% of IT data center professionals7 claim that security
is their top challenge, with centralized identity, patch and update management cited as one of the top-3 must-haves (after endpoint protection and application layer fi rewalling). IIMs enhance security by acting as ‘invisible agents’ that look continuously for suspicious activities, and the more sophisticated IIMs can identify illegal or unscheduled connections/disconnections in real-time identifi cation. Since IIMs can send out immediate alerts through email or instant messaging, many problems identifi ed can even be handled from afar.
£ Environment and Power Management: With the power costs of today’s crowded data centers and communication rooms rising exponentially, it has become more important than ever to automate environment and power management, and new environmental legislations have raised the stakes to an even higher level. IIM solutions can be the answer to both budgetary and legislative concerns, improving the organization’s “green footprint” by reducing power usage signifi cantly. For example, a 1U rack switch with 24 ports consumes 876 kWh per year, which, if generated by a coal-fi red power plant, emits 1,852 pounds of carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere8
. Using an IIM, the number of racks and switches
used can be reduced signifi cantly, and obsolete or malfunctioning equipment can easily be detected, corrected or replaced. Just as important, the documentation provided by the IIM represents a critical baseline that streamlines disaster recovery, provisioning, and other protocols.
Bringing IIM to the inter-connect environment Today’s transition of networks to higher data transmission rates is giving rise to a new phenomenon: the “mixed” environment. In “mixed” data centers and networks, new inter-connect resources must interact and communicate with legacy cross-connect resources. As network topologies move from hierarchical to fl at, they are becoming simultaneously more dynamic and interconnected. Forrester9
claims
that current data centers need “a set of interwoven components that each add a unique value but work together as a unit.” As the traffi c fl ow in data moves from “northbound and southbound” (application to user) to “eastbound and westbound” (application to application), existing network infrastructures are too “rigid and old to support the orchestration of services needed”. “New application architecture provides a model for developers to create fl exible applications that can be spread across multiple physical devices to maximize available hardware resources, both locally and globally.”
Reference
1. CommScope Survey, March 26, 2013 2. Enterprise Strategy Group, “Data Center Networking Trends”, January 2012,
http://www.esg-global.com/default/assets/File/ DataCenterNetworkingInfographic.pdf 3. Gartner: DCIM Going Beyond IT (29 March 2010) 4.
http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/
Sounds like a dream? Perhaps, but pioneering IIM developers are already moving in this direction. Next-generation IIMs will offer data center and network operators an advanced and cost-effective IIM platform that will manage all the components of the network infrastructure no matter how complex or expansive the network, from large to small-ticket items, while automating all daily operations and optimizing the network’s overall performance.
Conclusion
Current IIM presents a scalable, secure and reliable solution for minimizing power usage and managing power failures, improving physical-layer planning, streamlining and automating provisioning and service deployment, expediting fault management, and closely managing cabinets and other assets. Advanced IIM systems encompass fewer components than ever before, using less electricity and enhancing the “green profi le” of any organization. With network infrastructure becoming more complex and topologies increasingly interconnected, IIMs are evolving. Providing a new level of fl exibility and effi ciency to the ever-more constrained enterprises and data centres, next-generation IIMs will create a “fabric of horizontally interwoven networking components” and offer real, maximum return on investment.
Excerpt/0,7211,46488,
00.html 5.
http://www.lifelinedatacenters.com/cost-of-downtime/ 6.
http://www.gartner.com/id=1745515 7. ESG Group, January 2012 8. Network World.
http://www.networkworld.com/ngdc/AN4- 070713_08_44_01.pdf 9. Forrester, Data Center Networking Hardware, Q1 2013
February 2014 I
www.dcseurope.info 47
This new frontier for IT environments clearly demands a resolute IIM that can support different topologies. With cross-connect and inter-connect topologies deployed, IIM needs to offer the fl exibility needed to manage all the various, dynamic network aspects. By supporting both copper and fi ber cabling, next-generation IIMs will be able to minimize the total equipment required – and will offer a real, managed solution for the entire mixed inter-connect and cross- connect topology. A system such as this will even be able to support the industry’s highest data transfer rates, reaching 10 Gbps, or 40/100 Gbps in fi ber environments.
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