DCIM Gains IT Buy-In With Swift, Budget-Friendly Benefits

The vast majority of organizations are deploying data center infrastructure management (DCIM) solutions—and are seeing “significant” benefits within the first year, according to a recent survey from the Uptime Institute. The resulting “Global Data Center Survey” report also reveals that IT is able to adequately staff for DCIM and stay within the intended budget, while still reaping the rewards. Nearly 900 global data center operators and IT professionals took part in the research. The report covers a variety of other data center topics—including resiliency techniques, edge computing trends, high rack density and personnel retention—and some of those findings are presented here as well. Charts are provided courtesy of the Uptime Institute.

Nearly two-thirds of survey respondents said they have acquired some kind of commercial data center infrastructure management (DCIM) software and/or deployed homegrown DCIM. Three-quarters said their DCIM implementation was successful.

Elaborating upon the success factor, 62 percent of respondents said their DCIM deployment delivered “significant” benefits within the first full year. At the same time, only 46 percent said their DCIM deployment cost more than the original budget provided for.

Two-thirds of respondents said they were able to accurately define requirements for a DCIM purchase from the outset. More than three of five said they were able to staff for DCIM deployment from the outset.

Two-thirds of respondents said their DCIM success depended upon integration with personnel outside of their department. Nearly the same portion said their preferred DCIM vendor met their expectations.

To achieve or enhance resiliency, 68 percent of respondents said their company uses regular backups to a secondary site. Just over one-half said they deploy near real-time replication to a secondary site.

The findings reveal that 42 percent of respondents said their organization uses “disaster recovery as a service” to achieve or enhance resiliency. Two of five replicate workloads/data to two or more sites.

Among those at organizations that are expected to require edge computing capabilities, 64 percent of respondents said they will either use their own private data centers to do so, or a mix of their own and colocation data centers. Just 14 percent plan to outsource this to a public cloud provider.

About one-fifth of respondents said their highest-density rack was 30 kW or higher. This suggests that density extremes are escalating—in 2012, 26 kW per rack was the single highest-density rack reported by respondents.

The Uptime Institute reports that 56 percent of respondents said their company is using precision air cooling for its highest density racks. Three of 10 said their organization is using basic, room-level cooling.

Nearly two of five respondents said they are having a difficult time finding qualified candidates for open jobs. And 17 percent said they struggle with retention, with staffers being hired away.