Real-time data center monitoring will continue to be the easiest way to cut costs in 2019

Energy costs are one of the fastest-rising expenses for today’s data centers and the global energy ecosystem as a whole. Not only do energy cost make up 70 to 80 percent of ongoing operational expenses, but data centers are projected to soon amount to the largest share of global electricity production, according to Huawei Technologies’ Total Consumer Power Consumption Forecast.

As new technologies enter the data center realm at an increasing rate, expectations for advanced operational environments capable of meeting energy demands are at odds with an ever-present demand to keep costs down. In fact, studies have shown that cost savings continue to be a main motivating factor when selecting data center management tools. While introducing new processes to data center operations -- like real-time data center monitoring -- is key to modernization at a low cost, researchers have found managers need the pressure of an imminent issue or decision to overhaul legacy tech to make the step towards adopting a data center manager tool.

In 2019, IT teams will need to face the market’s demand for data center innovations around cloud migration, edge computing and other evolving industry expectations. It’s this demand that will bring the benefits of real-time consumption monitoring to the forefront of data center managers’ minds as a key component of success.

Eliminate Unnecessary Infrastructure

Data center managers are constantly looking for ways to understand and control their infrastructure’s electrical power, often relying on power distribution unit (PDUs) to achieve this. With real-time monitoring tools’ ability to deliver device level power and thermal data, teams can eliminate the need for intelligent power distribution units. While investing in PDUs can cost thousands of dollars, real-time consumption monitoring tools only require a one-time investment and offer a way for IT teams to collect data directly from servers without deploying costly and redundant infrastructure.

Identify Underutilized Servers

Without a full understanding of its infrastructure, performance data centers are often left with underutilization rates as high as 50 percent leaving the opportunity to double your data center’s revenue untouched. By analyzing server utilization with data collected over a period of time, real-time data center management tools allow IT managers to understand the relationship between server power consumption and energy optimization potential. As a result, managers can identify underutilized servers, better deploy tasks more efficiently across their data center, and ultimately, open the door to more revenue opportunities.

Explore Consolidation with Increased Visibility

With a rising demand for expansion, consolidating data center operations is likely the last thing on an IT manager’s mind. But with data center monitoring, managers can view their environment’s efficiency like they’ve never seen it before, opening their eyes to a major cost savings opportunity. Given the granular insights into server health, cooling, and power consumption, data center manager tools provide added visibility to safely and efficiently perform consolidation and cloud migration. Moves like this allow IT teams to repurpose expensive space and cut power costs.

By utilizing features like power monitoring, thermal consumption analysis, and health utilization, data center management tools increase managers’ visibility and offer the means to make decisions based on real-time data. This elevated level of management will be key for data center teams as they face the industry’s growing power requirements and demands for new innovations in 2019.

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As General Manager of Intel Data Center Management Solutions, Jeff Klaus leads a global team that designs, builds, sells and supports data center software products through an extensive distribution network. Since joining Intel in 2000, Klaus built and maintains the largest global distribution ecosystem of middleware solutions through Server Hardware OEMs, Software Infrastructure Management Providers and Cloud Service Providers.