Trends in Data Center Management – Uptime Institute Survey Results

Recently, 451 Research and Nlyte Software co-hosted a webinar which looked at the results of a global Uptime Institute survey about trends in data center management.

Rhonda Ascierto, Research VP with Uptime Institute and Enzo Greco, Chief Strategy Officer at Nlyte shared and discussed the results on the live webinar. If you missed it, you can access the recording here.

Three quick takeaways:

• Most data centers are now being managed with DCIM software

DCIM has become mainstream. 54% of the data center professionals surveyed have purchased a commercial DCIM software product, while another 11% have installed a homegrown DCIM system. (There are perils associated with DIY DCIM. See our blog here.)

DCIM has gone from being a “nice to have” technology, to a “have to have”. Previously, it was employed in only large, mission critical facilities or by organizations with multiple data center locations. Now DCIM is found in all kinds of facilities, from hyperscale to micro and edge data centers. Micro data centers tend to ship with DCIM already installed because they are lights out, so it is vital to management and control.

The most active vertical is colocation businesses for two reasons: first, for their own better management, efficiency, and to stand out from the competition and second, for the end user so they can have greater transparency into both their own operations and the colo’s, for SLA fulfillment.

• DCIM implementations are becoming increasingly integrated with BMS, IT, and business systems

66% of those surveyed agreed that the success of a DCIM implementation often depends on inter-disciplinary integration. It must involve and get buy-in and support from people outside the data center department and become integrated with other systems, not just critical infrastructure equipment. For example, ITSM and financial are other groups, but the skills of those people are needed for success in the DCIM project. There should be no islands of information, no inaccessible silos.

• AI will be widely used in data centers going forward

As data centers and data center environments become more complex, and grow in scale, the use of specialized infrastructure management tools and AI has become critical. 70% of professionals surveyed anticipate the growth of AI use in the data center. They realize that they can’t achieve their goals with traditional tools. In fact, AI has already been found to be valuable in data center management simply because of the volume of data generated that has to be analyzed.

For more fascinating results from the survey, access the recording. To learn more about DCIM, AI and the data center, click here. We’re here to help. Reach out to us any time at [email protected], or see https://www.nlyte.com/ for more information.