Issue 20, Feb/March
FOCUS DCIM DISCUSSIONS
between the DCIM tools and virtual machine manager. The software will need to know that the machine is migrating to a Tier III zone and not a Tier I zone if that machine requires Tier III. That only comes through integration between the DCIM tool and virtual machine tools.
Q. KB: Why do you think there has been such a slow adoption rate of DCIM tools by customers?
A. SH: The term itself has only been around for a couple of years. People are still trying to sort DCIM out. There are also a lot of vendors claiming to have DCIM tools, and the DCIM toolset has been quite immature.
There hasn’t been that overarching platform that allows you to start off small and expand out. It’s been a series of point products you have to integrate yourself, which is a lot of work. This isn’t easy – you need a lot of skillsets. It requires a background in thermodynamics, electrical engineering and a broad knowledge of the IT side of data centers and many other areas in order to put together a piecemeal solution.
Businesses will be happy to use tools once they are broad enough and easy enough to use, and can get ROI every step of the way.
Q. SH: There are a variety of new entrants with unique approaches to the market. How do you see these different approaches evolving?
A. KB: We’ve seen, in the past, companies proposing frameworks that were proprietary by nature and meant to replace existing systems. CIOs should be wary of a ‘forklift’ replacement or upgrade.
The additional requirement that CIOs should be looking for is the DCIM vendor’s position on openness. Every tool deployed in a data center should be using open protocols that provide every piece of data that tool contains. In this way, CIOs are protected for the future.
It’s not just limited to the DCIM tools but the monitoring systems in the physical environment as well. CIOs should be looking for monitoring and control systems of facility-level power and cooling plants that have modern open interfaces that are robustly implemented. This isn’t just a question of what’s available today.
Collaboration will only come when vendors are willing to be completely open. n
JEFF KLAUS, DCIM DIRECTOR: THE MAN BEHIND INTEL’S DCIM STRATEGY
“We have observed that there is not a lot of granular data in the data center and users are unable to get fine grained readings. The previous method was to use intelligent power strips or modelling and these are limited. There is up to 40% inaccuracy and in the end intelligent power strips only go so far,” Jeff Klaus told FOCUS.
Intel’s two main technologies for the DCIM market are its DCM power manager and its Node manager. Not all server makers want to support DCM. The most high profile supporter to date has been Dell and Cisco is expected to come on board in March. That same month, Intel is expected to make a major announcement that will included — it is thought — a major DCIM enhancement.
The key to DCIM for Klaus is getting at the real time data. “Why spend high priced engineering time on getting this data?” he asks. Time is better spent on the analysis and exploring what-if scenarios.”
Yet some existing solutions are overwhelming for the customer, according to Klaus. “Our role is to be a data provider — and an aggregator of power data, “ he says.
“At this point we have to break it down to simple use cases. These are around understanding what your existing data centre can turn out? What happens if you increase your rack density? If customers want to mine the existing data center they need to understand what they are
really consuming. Then they can invest in more servers in a rack,” says Klaus.
Being part of Intel, Klaus has good established relationships across the industry with Eaton Power, Emerson Network Power, Schneider Electric and others in the DCIM space he has already announced as partners.
The purpose of all the partner conversations with the likes of Modius, iTRACS, SynapSense and Rackwise is to fulfil Klaus’ go-to-market strategy for DCM. By having DCM enabled via the ISV he penetrates further into the market. He is also in discussions on a tie up between Intel and CA Technologies and its Eco software suite.
For OEMs he has Dell, SGI and Lenovo on board but is missing HP and IBM.
Of the market in general he says: “It is a land grab. They all want to get large as fast as they can.”
He won’t pick any winners saying it depends but he points out that the compound annual growth rate in DCIM is 25%.
Intel’s own platform upgrade will include an instrumentation announcement to get close to the power source. There will also be enhancements in thermal data gathering with outlet temperature measurement functionality to be added.
INTEL DCM (DATA CENTER MANAGER) DEFINED AS A MIDDLEWARE WITH WEB SERVICE
APIS FOR DATA
CENTER POWER AND THERMAL MANAGEMENT
POWER AND THERMAL KNOBS IN DATA CENTERS
Replace expensive smart power strips
Capacity planning
Identify dead and under- utilized servers
Measure energy usage by device
Identify power/thermal failure situations
Power aware VM migration Power aware job scheduling
Continued operation in the presence of power outages
Improve thermal profile in the DC
Application power optimization
Source: Intel
www.datacenterdynamics.com 27
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