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Tips for efficient data centre infrastructure management

Sep 20, 2020
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STT GDC India
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Data centre infrastructure is an integral part of modern businesses. The global DCIM market, which was evaluated at USD 1.701 billion in 2019, is expected to reach USD 6.688 billion by 2025. In the past years, the need to manage limited space and high rack density has been driving the market. However, data centre infrastructure at facilities is becoming complex to manage with dynamic landscapes. Cooling, power, space, cable – everything must run efficiently for enabling business continuity. The rising demand for energy-efficient data centres is making DCIM a key component for driving growth.

 

A Look at DCIM & Its Industry Effects

 

Rapid digitalization is leading to an intersection of next-gen technologies, including big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality. Data centres are key enablers in driving this technological transformation. As the demand for data centres increases, IT infrastructure must be able to optimize itself to run smooth operations. Data centre infrastructure management provides operational flexibility to adapt infrastructure to changing needs with 24*7 monitoring, insights, effective usage of IT infrastructure (Optimization) and automation of critical infrastructure to mitigate risks, reduce downtime in a data centre. If any of the functions are disrupted, unplanned downtime can occur interrupting critical operations. This downtime has the capability of causing massive losses depending upon the size of a company. In 2017, a massive downtime incident occurred with British Airways due to data centre power outage. The company was forced to cancel 400,000 flights costing them nearly USD 112 million.

 

From defining business goals and setting an operational threshold to enabling integration and ensuring scalability, data centres are also learning from their customer experiences.

 

Here are some tips data centres can follow for efficient DCIM implementation:

 

  • Establish Effective Integration
    Multiple tools are used to manage data centre operations; integration of such tools only comes as a significant consideration for efficient DCIM implementation. Integration can be phased-in as different DCIM use cases come into the picture. For smooth data centre operations, integration of Building Management System (BMS), fire detection, physical security, authentication control systems can make automated workflows efficient. DCIM and BMS integration is crucial of all.

  • Avoid Alert Overload
    If there are more than one management systems in place, they are likely to create more alerts. If all the alarms are categorized and configured correctly during implementation, data centre infrastructure management can become efficient in such situations. Event correlation is critical to suppressing the volume of such alerts. DCIM can aggregate alerts to prevent from being logged as multiple events. Defining alert profiles is crucial for establishing this ‘intelligent’ approach and avoiding alarm overload.

  • Safeguard Performance Levels
    DCIM solutions must be scalable. As the implementation matures, data centre providers may find themselves in a pool of thousands of devices and sensors. There is a significant amount of data. If data centre infrastructure management architecture is not able to support it, performance may be impacted, which may also cancel out its primary benefits. Scalability and performance are key factors for its implementation and future performance. It includes having the right architecture, database and scheme, increased availability, optimized query engines, and distribution deployment.

  • Enable Continuous Improvement
    Data centre infrastructure management is a continuously evolving discrete discipline. As organizations are exposed to more actionable information, data centre providers may also need to optimize DCIM for enhanced efficiency. To capture continually improved opportunities, data centre providers need to look towards gathering metrics and analytics for evolving with time.

 

Achieve Maximum Value with Minimum Efforts

When implemented effectively, data centre infrastructure management can deliver value not only to data centre providers but also extend it to their customers. Not only will it enable improved operations, greater agility, and lowered risk, it also accelerates tasks to focus on enhanced data centre systems and approaches. Efficient DCIM today can achieve better results tomorrow.

 

Built on strong customer trust, STT GDC India is committed to keeping things in perspective of its customers to ensure business continuity even during critical times. Operational readiness by implementing up-to-date solutions at all colocation data centres ensure that no external or internal factors hamper critical operations.

 

Data centres enabling up-skilling for Life-Long Learners

 

Online learning has surged as people look ways to be productive while staying at home. Udemy shows an overall 200% rise in enrolments in India and more than 600% growth in uptake for communications skills programs, 300% growth in financial analysis and business fundamentals courses. Learners have shown strong interest for programs such as telecommuting, working in virtual teams, decision making and stress management. Coursera, one of the largest MOOCs platform globally is using a hyperscale data centre to handle half a petabyte of traffic each month and achieve scale to deliver courses to 21 million learners from around the world. Data centres are at the heart of such technology-powered education models. As data centres form the lifeline of education technology, they need to evolve to provide more cloud-based applications, strengthen student-data privacy, and enable AI-lead learning analytics that’ll help improve retention and develop personalize learning, support media-rich content that uses AR/VR.

 

Technology for a Brave New World of Learning

 

Technology is transforming education, not just in terms of teaching and learning but in the entire operation of educational institutions and the choices that young people have about how they wish to learn and be educated. Institutions will turn their attention to such technology solutions as remote collaboration, high-speed networks, and data security to ensure seamless delivery of knowledge to dispersed and diverse students across the country.

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