Integrating FM With Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM)
Case Study: Atos UK Data Centre
Atos, a leading global IT services provider responsible for ensuring the security, reliability and continuity of its customers' critical business information and resources, provides fully managed services to clients across a wide range of industries.
With four data centres strategically located throughout the UK and customers around the world, Atos decided to invest in a state-of-the-art data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) solution across a key location to deliver a single, consolidated view of all that data centre's IT and facilities operations from one workstation.
Atos UK Data Centre Strategy Manager Brian Parrott explains: "We had a variety of different asset management tools, products and spreadsheets and we needed a tool that could pull them together in the right place to help us to make timely, accurate decisions."
Furthermore, Atos wanted to improve its asset management capabilities with better reporting of capacity and the ability to do "what if" modelling of infrastructure, to enable better utilisation of data and reduced risk of downtime. To increase overall energy efficiency and reduce utility costs for its customers, Atos required detailed, rack-specific power consumption data with real time temperature monitoring and heat map visualisation.
To meet these challenging criteria, Atos implemented Datacenter Clarity LC®, an award-winning advanced software solution suite from Siemens at its first data centre in Livingston, Scotland.
Smarter decision-making
The intuitive, easy-to-use DCIM interface processes information from vital sub-systems that traditionally operate in silos, into a single, powerful solution that monitors energy and building management, physical security, fire safety, power and communications, racks, servers and data storage systems, as well as switches and routers.
The Datacenter Clarity LC system enables collaboration between IT and facilities processes, allowing both parties to track and manage assets and workflows. Simple integration procedures ensure the smooth transfer of up-to-date infrastructure information and help the two departments to deliver high value IT services and solve the toughest challenges together.
Real-time monitoring of power consumption
Unlike other DCIM solutions, the latest Datacenter Clarity LC technology combines a complete DC suite including a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) module. The software delivers real-time energy management at rack level due to its ability to harness CFD analysis technology, combined with real-time environmental monitoring to deliver a complete set of capabilities for cooling management, delivering Atos with detailed power usage information via dashboard and regular reporting. With a better view of its energy consumption, Atos can increase efficiency and reduce energy costs for its customers.
Having both real-time environmental monitoring and CFD capabilities within a single DCIM platform is unique to Siemens and enables a faster return on investment.
Billing reports generated from detailed rack readings
Atos can provide more accurate and auditable invoices for its customers. Datacenter Clarity LC generates more than seven million power readings per month, increasing billing transparency and customer trust.
Advanced 3D modelling
In addition to real-time environmental monitoring, the software also provides predictive capabilities in a virtual 3D data centre model, which offers Atos engineers an intuitive interface to view assets, helping to identify risk and ensuring the highest level of uptime and reliability for their customers.
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"What if" planning
Using the 3D modelling, Atos has a more efficient and effective way to conduct change management and ensure its assets can support customer needs for capacity.
Remote monitoring capabilities
Atos can access Datacenter Clarity LC from any Atos workstation around the world, giving the management team the agility and flexibility they need to ensure uptime and address customer issues.
Customer results
Datacenter Clarity LC has had a positive economic impact for Atos, resulting in a reduction in downtime, increased energy efficiency and improved customer relations. The system is generating more accurate billing reports for its customers. Past billing was determined by one monthly reading for the site; current invoices are informed by real-time monitoring at the rack-level, generating millions of data points and providing greater transparency.
The DCIM solution has also been successful in helping Atos achieve a number of key objectives. "Our team now has one clear view of the data centre, "states Brian. "They can see everything from mechanical and electrical infrastructure to IT assets, all on one screen. Having a single view is essential when taking the pulse to really understand the health of your data centre."
With more accurate, real-time monitoring of assets and power consumption, Atos expects that Datacenter Clarity LC will support its company-wide efforts to approve Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). "As we improve PUE, our power consumption comes down," explains Brian, "and that is a saving that is passed directly onto our customers."
Atos intends to rollout Datacenter Clarity LC to other UK and European strategic customers.
For more details on Siemens' data centre solutions, please see www.siemens.com/dcim
(Datacenter Clarity LC is a trademark owned and licensed by Maya Heat Transfer Technologies Ltd.)
