2014 Forum – An Integrated Approach to Operational Efficiency and Reliability

08 October, 2014 | Presentation

Marina Thiry, ABB James Bartone, Schneider Electric

The longest, costliest, and most critical period of a data center’s life cycle is the sustained operations phase. It is crucial for data center operators to have a thorough understanding of the systems they have been tasked to manage and sustain in all manner of conditions, including during unscheduled events. From day one, the operations team must be prepared to efficiently run the facility. Yet, in most cases, the very first day of operations immediately follows or even overlaps with the construction and final commissioning of the facility, leaving no idle time to learn and document the myriad of functions for managing the equipment, the systems, and the facility.

Meeting this immense challenge requires an integrated approach to operations. Attaining operational excellence requires well-documented and integrated systems that provide both operational clarity and unhindered performance. Furthermore, beyond the physical infrastructure, today’s hyper efficient data centers are instrumented with DCIM so that operators have the visibility, decision support, and automation to effectively manage a flexible network of power, cooling, and IT. This integrated approach to infrastructure management, addressing both hardware and software, enables higher efficiencies today while laying the foundation to evolve and achieve even greater operational benefits in the not-so-distant future.