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Old 03-11-2016, 08:12 PM
ceepeeyou ceepeeyou is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2016
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Default Why purchase DCIM?

Hi,

For full disclosure, I work as a developer for a major DCIM vendor (doesn't matter which for this purpose). That being said, I'm still more of an all-round software developer than a domain expert, but I'm curious to learn. Like most software developers, I am at some degrees of separation from the customers so I hope you don't mind me posting questions here to (in)validate my assumptions.

First question which pops up in my mind is why purchase a DCIM system at all? I've understood that data centers come in all sizes, ranging from a few racks behind the janitor's office (I'm probably exaggerating here) to giant complexes custom fitted to the Googles of this world.

So .. my assumption would be that the bigger you get, the more you are in need software to manage your stuff. Also, I'm assuming that below a certain level you would probably just keep track of your stuff in an Excel spreadsheet, fit an aircon in the wall, and not give much thought about PUE or heating distribution.

Also, I'm assuming that reliability/uptime is important in general and that things like steady power, redundancy, etc. would matter to data centers at all sizes, but that it would quickly become complex to model, and that this would become an incentive to buy custom software as the data center expands. But this may be just my assumption.

Also, as far as I understand, it's important to be able to document your PUE, both as a measure of efficiency and as a measure of friendliness to the environment. And DCIM software would claim to help you improve the PUE better than you could without. I'm a bit in doubt as to the validity of that claim, but that may be my inner skepticism kicking in here.

This ended up as a longer read than I had planned, for which I apologize. Still, any feedback would be appreciated. And yes, I realize that the answers would probably greatly depend upon the amount of iron which you have been assigned to manage.
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