What Happens When A Media Giant Needs To Allocate Resources More Effectively?

Jessica Ciesla
November 16, 2018

It's no secret that many data centers make large investments in space, power, and cooling. The challenge, especially when the client is a media giant, is to determine how to use these three resources most effectively. After all, the more effectively that the data center can use its space, power, and cooling, the cheaper it will be to maintain and operate. 

Understanding The Challenge

A large company within the media sector turned to the Raritan team for help creating a data center solution that would more effectively utilize their space, power, and cooling solutions.

To understand this challenge we had to first recognize the following components. 
1.    The client already had invested in its space, power, and cooling resources.
2.    The client needed a tool to accurately benchmark previously deployed devices, while also developing a plan for new deployments. 
3.    Space, power, and cooling resources all needed to be optimized to eliminate wasted capacity and simultaneously reduce the risk of a resource overload. 

Creating An Effective Solution

Our solution to the media company's challenges began with outlet level metered intelligent PDUs. The PDUs allowed the client to accurately benchmark device deployment so that space, power, and cooling usage could be properly optimized. Additionally, outlet level metering would allow the client to measure the exact power consumption of individual IT devices. This level of insight is especially useful when similar devices are running different applications and thus consuming different power loads. Accurately measuring the power loads of individual devices provided the client with the information needed to define a precise power budget. 

Next, we recognized that the client had a three stage process to benchmark devices. 
1.    Use 50 percent of nameplate power consumption. This figure represents the starting point before any actual power load is measured. 
2.    Determine the IT device group load average after all similar devices have been measured and deployed in the first stage. 
3.    After 90 days of deployment, the actual load can be characterized for the device to establish the power budget and thresholds needed for accurate alerts. 

We deployed a DCIM solution to accurately measure the client's three benchmarking stages. The DCIM solution enabled accurate measurements, device and cabinet-level monitoring, as well as insights into the entire data center's use of power and cooling. 

The End Result: Resources Maximized For Efficiency 

Through outlet level metered intelligent PDUs and a DCIM solution, we were able to help the media company overcome its space, power, and cooling challenges. The end result was an environment that eliminated wasted capacity, used space more effectively, and reduced the risk of overloading power and cooling resources.

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