— Intelligent asset, capacity, and change management —

LAS VEGAS (March 19, 2012) – Raritan today announced that it will be speaking at AFCOM Data Center World on how smart asset management can reduce costs, errors and headaches.  The company also will be demonstrating how its new dcTrack® 2.6 DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management) software and its smart electronic IT asset-tracking system work together to increase data center inventory accuracy and operational efficiencies, reliability and uptime.

Khaled Nassoura, General Manager of DCIM Software Solutions at Raritan, will be speaking on “Automating Data Center Asset Management” on Tuesday, March 20, at 10:45 a.m.  “Whether driven by daily moves, adds, changes or projects, it’s difficult and costly to track assets in data centers with accuracy,” says Nassoura.  “Most data centers still rely on manual audits.  Some have automated this process using barcodes and hand-held scanners; while others have deployed RFID.  But these steps only solve taking inventory of assets at one point in time.  As soon as a change is made in a rack, the inventory record is outdated and inaccurate.”

When a server is moved or installed in a rack, Raritan’s smart electronic asset-tracking solution captures the information and shares it with dcTrack.  By automatically capturing each activity performed at the rack when it happens, dcTrack insures that a data center’s change policy is followed – even during an overnight emergency – and that inventory records are always accurate. 
According to John Stanley, industry analyst at 451 Research, “Raritan’s innovative wired approach is an alternative to using RFID or bar codes for asset tracking.  451 Research believes the wired approach is cheaper than active RFID and less error-prone than manual bar-code scanning.”

Raritan’s electronic asset-tracking system consists of Asset Management Tags (AMTs) and Asset Management Sensors (AMSs).  AMSs are rack-mounted strips with electrical connections for each rack unit.  AMTs are electronic tags, each with a unique identification number, that attach to IT assets.  “When data center personnel place an IT asset in a rack, they physically connect a wire from the asset’s tag to the connector for the appropriate rack unit in the rack-mounted strip,” says Stanley.  “The AMT/AMS pair then registers the location of the IT asset and reports it to one of Raritan’s intelligent PDUs or EMX appliances, which in turn push the data to dcTrack.”

Raritan will be showing both its NEW dcTrack DCIM software release and electronic asset-tracking system in Booth#930 at the AFCOM conference. 

About dcTrack
dcTrack is an award-winning, easy-to-use DCIM solution that efficiently provides real-time information about facilities, networks and IT infrastructures.  dcTrack’s ability to clearly visualize infrastructure resources helps manage placement of IT equipment, make informed capacity management decisions and keep accurate track of data center assets.  dcTrack is easy to implement, integrate, administer and operate, providing a fast ROI.  dcTrack offers pay-as-you-grow pricing based on the number of cabinets in your data center.

dcTrack was featured in the recent IDC MarketScape Report on DCIM.  The report named Raritan a “major player worldwide” in the DCIM space.

dcTrack was also featured in 451 Research’s Report “Raritan brings location tracking, other updates to its DCIM quartet”.

For more information on dcTrack software, visit www.raritan.com/connectivity-management.

About Raritan (Raritan.com)
Raritan is a proven innovator of power management, infrastructure management, KVM and serial solutions for data centers of all sizes.  In more than 50,000 locations worldwide, Raritan’s award-winning hardware and software solutions—including intelligent rack PDUs; energy management software; DCIM software solution; KVM-over-IP and Serial-over-IP access products—provide IT and facility directors, managers and administrators with the control they need to increase power management efficiency, improve data center productivity and enhance branch office operations.  Based in Somerset, N.J., Raritan has offices worldwide serving customers in 76 countries.  Visit us at Raritan.com or follow us on the Raritan blog.  Raritan is an active member of the Green Grid, Climate Savers Computing Initiative, and the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design associations.  The company has been recognized by the EPA for its contribution to the agency’s data center initiative.

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