The Uptime Institutes “State of the Data Center 2013 Survey Results” Confirms DCIM growth

Paula Alves
April 30, 2013

The Uptime Institute recently conducted a webinar on the “State of the Data Center 2013 Survey Results.”  Per the survey the adoption of DCIM is expected to continue – and according to the survey, in the next 2 years about 32% of the respondents indicate that they plan to buy.

It was interesting to hear that globally Data Center budgets are expanding and money is being spent to grow their footprint.   In fact in the webinar it was stated that 70% of data center operators built a new site or renovated a site in the past 5 years.  Tools that can provide assistance in the build seem to be essential to success.

Data center operations, deployment and design are capital intensive, so there tends to be a focus on cost and performance by the C-Suite.  In fact the majority of Data Center Managers reported that they provide performance or cost metrics to the C-Suite monthly.   However, depending on the organization size and the tools used, reporting can be complex and/or unavailable.

Through the survey over 80% of the respondents indicated that Facilities generally pays the energy bill, and therefore incurs the cost of inefficiencies.  Finding ways to free up Data Center capacity and reduces costs are top drivers for pursuing efficiency savings.  Additionally, working with IT to implement a solution that supports bill-backs can relieve Facilities of some of the burden.

While cost, integration, and database issues are often significant barriers to deploying a DCIM, the savings that can be received from improved capacity planning and energy efficiency, the ability to identify problems, and the gain in asset visibility make a DCIM solution the most efficient and effective way to manage the Data Center.