Computerworld - CIOs have started a strong push to make data center infrastructure, including power and cooling systems, as dynamic and flexible as the virtual systems it supports.
The effort has given rise to a new and fast growing category of tools that can provide IT managers with a complete view of their infrastructure that shows them how they are using power and even allows them to keep it sync with workload changes.
The need to improve controls on power usage is apparent.
Server densities continue to rise, and fully loaded server racks are seeing ever increasing power loads requiring 12, 24 and upwards of 30 kilowatts. Gartner estimates that it costs $1.6 million a year to power an 8,000-square-foot data center, and those costs, both in terms of demand and utility charges, are rising 10% a year.
Data center consolidation is also pushing IT managers to maximize space and extend the life of data centers as long as possible -- and to become green.
Meanwhile, virtualization technologies have turned data centers into resource pools that can expand, contract and dynamically shift as needed. And as the workloads move, so do the power needs of various servers.
The evolving data center is creating a market for what's known as data center infrastructure management (DCIM) technology, which includes tools that can monitor, measure and manage infrastructure, and potentially work in sync with virtualization systems from VMware, Microsoft and others.
DCIM tools are designed to help optimize space, shut down unused systems and deliver predictive analysis. Tools that can do some of these tasks have been around for years, but now more-comprehensive DCIM technology gives IT managers a systemwide, real-time view of an entire data center infrastructure.
"DCIM is a promising technology that has great potential, but it's in its early days yet," said Jonathan Koomey, a consulting professor at Stanford University who has measured power consumption by data centers for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"Many data centers can't tell you exactly how much power is used by different servers or the exact configuration of specific servers, for example," said Koomey. "How can you optimize your facility if you're not really sure what it contains?"
"Servers are a big culprit here - they are the biggest single heat source," said Jay Pultz, an analyst at Gartner, but data center power management systems have been part of overall building management systems. "There haven't been systems really geared for the data center manager and tied into data center systems," he said.
DCIM is considered a new market. IDC is just now measuring its size, but Pultz knows it's hot, "because weekly we learn of another start-up in this field," he said. The market is "nascent because there aren't any real standards," he added.
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