After nearly a decade of public cloud adoption, many organizations have realized they need more flexibility when it comes to where they run applications and workloads. Increasingly, they are moving to highly distributed, multi-cloud architectures that span multiple public clouds, an on-premises data center and an MTDC facility. Multiple factors drove the pivot to multi-cloud, including the need to improve the performance of latency-sensitive applications, meet data sovereignty mandates, and ensure employees can do their best work wherever they are. For MTDC operators, opportunity abounds: The global MTDC/colocation market, which was valued at $46.08 billion in 2020, is projected to reach $202.71 billion by 2030, according to a report from Allied Market Research (AMR).

DCIM software is used to measure, monitor and manage the IT equipment and supporting infrastructure of data centers, which helps data center operators to run sustainable operations while improving infrastructure design and management. And the more sophisticated solutions on the market leverage powerful automation capabilities that can help MTDC operators control costs, transform capacity planning and utilization, and improve uptime.

However, not all DCIM solutions meet the unique needs of MTDC operators. In fact, not all are optimized for the physical layer, which comprises the power, cooling, space components for which MTDC operators are responsible. As a result, facilities managers are forced to rely on a hodgepodge of sometimes homegrown monitoring tools, and struggle to gain the insight they need to manage the data center holistically. The result is more downtime, inefficient power usage, wasted capacity, higher costs, and unhappy tenants.

Following are three must-have DCIM capabilities for MTDC operators tasked with the care and feeding of their tenants’ data center infrastructure:

• SaaS-based deployment for simplicity and savings

Historically, DCIM software has been used in on-premises systems. However, SaaS-based solutions provide greater flexibility, offer a more holistic view of the environment, and also significantly reduce costs. In fact, the TCO of SaaS-based solutions is about 50% lower than that of on-premises alternatives. The legacy solutions are priced based on the number of software licenses required, and add-ons such as hardware, customization and implementation, and patches and upgrades result in additional, ongoing costs.

Panduit SmartZone™ Cloud offers a single, subscription-based license model, with unlimited users and locations. Designed with self-service in mind, SmartZone is quick to deploy, intuitive to use, and simple to maintain. As a result, it enables a total cost of ownership (TCO) that can be 50% lower than on-premises alternatives.

• Advanced technologies for capacity optimization and planning

While strong MTDC growth is a boon for operators, it also shines a light on the importance of both optimizing existing capacity and planning for the future. Tenants are running various types of workloads that each come with their own unique requirements for equipment, space, power and cooling. But once operators gain an understanding of all these workload needs, they can use this data to build benchmarks, and then get insights to adjust air flow and cooling as well as to predict growth needs.

SmartZone Cloud Software provides accurate, automated, and centralized physical infrastructure visibility to help operators make informed decisions to meet the demanding needs around capacity planning, remote management with real-time information about connectivity, power and asset usage, thermal conditions, and space.

• Powerful analytics for predicting and preventing device failures

According to a 2022 study by the Uptime Institute, 60 percent of data center operators experienced some kind of outage over a three year period, and more than two thirds of these outages cost more than $100,000. What’s more, 44% of the outages are caused by power failures. When the power goes off unexpectedly in a data center, and backup processes fail, the results can be catastrophic. While uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) are purpose-built to provide continuous power, they rely on batteries to do that job. Innovative DCIM solutions help optimize the device discovery process for monitoring and capturing data at scale. And by using the power of AI and ML, they can help providers better manage the health of mission-critical equipment, thereby preventing failure and downtime.

SmartZone Cloud Software: DCIM Designed with MTDC Operators in Mind

SmartZone Cloud Software combines power and environment monitoring along with cabinet access, asset tracking and connectivity management. It provides visual representation of a rich set of asset attributes, connectivity, space availability, and power/environment resources, to ensure that your physical infrastructure supports mission-critical applications, and enables effective optimization of your data center’s space, power, and cooling resources.

To learn more about how Panduit can help you build a better data center experience for your tenants, visit our website.