Visual Data Center comes with a long list of effective and useful features with one simple goal in mind--to help our customers to proactively manage and monitor their respective data center spaces which will result in ongoing operational cost savings. Over the last several years there has been an increased push in the data center industry to reduce costs and energy consumption while at the same time increase efficiency and production from these facilities. Consequently, there is a greater need to know how a facility is operating today and how it may operate in the future. No longer can data center managers rely on static nameplate data from manufacturers or Visio and Excel documents as the sole way to plan and optimize the data center space. The following points will outline the areas Visual Data Center helps data center managers to reduce overall data center operations costs to realize maximum return on investment (ROI) from a Visual Data Center deployment.

Reduction in the up front and ongoing costs required to implement and maintain a data center monitoring and resource management application
. The up front and ongoing costs associated with a Visual Data Center deployment are up to 30% less than those of the other major
data center monitoring and resource management applications.
. Customers do not have to buy multiple modules to take advantage of all the Visual Data Center product functionalities.
. The use of auto discovery, monitoring profiles, bulk information imports and the lack of multiple modules reduces deployment time
and simplifies the installation process.

Result - Lower total cost of ownership vs. comparable solutions, users can take advantage of faster deployment timeframes and the intuitive nature of the system for faster utilization.

Improved data center reliability and availability through proactive monitoring and maintenance management
. Get real-time alerts when a device operates out of set thresholds.
. Set flexible notification and escalation rules with configurable thresholds.
. Easily access real time device status with configurable device dashboards.
. Integrate with intelligent Smart Devices to gain control of devices.
. Manage equipment maintenance, service and warranty activities with the included service and warranty module.

Result - Identify potential problems before they happen, avoid costly damage to equipment, and prevent loss of revenue due to unscheduled downtime.

Improved decision making and planning with advanced trending and reporting capabilities
. Configurable trend charts allow the user to easily track historical data points of critical devices.
. Customize reports with the built-in reporting engine or through integration with Crystal Reports to allow the user to organize and report on critical data faster and easier.

Result - Give management access to the critical data needed to make informed decisions and spend less time and effort to do so.

Improved resource management through integrated rack building, floorplan building, device location, device tracking and device relationship viewer features
. Build and document data center floor layouts and detailed rack elevations.
. Document and locate assets faster with an integrated asset tracking system.
. Actively identify under-utilized IT resources.
. Document and manage network and power device relationships with an integrated device/port relationship manager.

Result - Proactively track and find assets faster and easier, avoid “forgotten” assets and/or wasted assets, quickly find the root cause or impact of a specific problem, and reduce the risk of downtime due to human error.

Improved space, power, and cooling capacity management with Visual Data Center's unique data center layer views
. Observe overall data center operating conditions at multiple layers.
. View the floor space and rack space layer which indicates spare vs. used rack capacity.
. View the environmental layers which show temperature and humidity values of devices on the floorplan.
. View the power consumption layer which indicates Amps, Kilowatts, Volts, BTU consumed on devices visible in the floorplan.
. View the service management details to see which devices are involved in service events for given time period.
. "Play" the history of these layer values to see how they change over time.

Result - Enable rightsizing through holistic view of the facility, enable IT and facilities to collaborate to eliminate oversizing/undersizing , identify where improvements need to be made in the cooling or power infrastructure, prevent rip-and-replace scenarios due to poor growth planning, plan for future growth accurately, and enable modular data center growth strategies to control costs.

Improved documentation management through Visual Data Center's integrated file depot and device attached functionality
. Place system wide documentation such as escalation procedures, contact lists, etc in the integrated File Depot.
. Place facility specific documentation in the floorplan specific File Depot so those documents are only accessible from that facility location.
. Attach warranty documentation, service documentation, copies of purchase orders,invoices, or user guides to the device itself.

Result - Eliminate the cost of maintaining a separate document management system, gain access to the documentation you need when you need it and where you need it, and enhance compliance with auditory requirements.

Improved energy efficiency through energy utilization monitoring and tracking
. Track energy consumption and costs down to the device level to get a clear view of where and how you are utilizing power.
. Monitor energy usage from different viewpoints in real-time.
. Identify ghost servers and underutilized servers to assist with consolidation or virtualization efforts.
. Identify waste and oversized capacity (power & cooling systems) to see where improvements and efficiencies can be realized to reduce consumption.
. Quickly and easily generate the built-in energy efficiency report to analyze energy utilization and cost and to view the PUE and DCiE ratings for the facility.
. The powerful IntelliPass Data Analysis Engine allows users to model and analyze real-time data.

Result - Proactively track energy efficiency levels, energy costs, and the real dollar impacts that improvements make.