Content providers are winning - why not do the same?

It’s becoming more and more obvious that content providers are winning by using smart algorithms and software to utilise and process their data. Why not do the same in your data centre using the data that’s readily available?

The term ‘content provider’ is used in different ways. The content providers I refer to here are companies that collect a lot of data and use it in a smart way. This happens on a daily basis. For example, you may browse the internet and find advertisements popping up about items you have only just been viewing. There is a strong mechanism behind this to make it happen and companies are becoming stronger by taking advantage.

It’s worth noting that this doesn’t stop at your internet browsing; it’s about being smart with any data collected. Think about the lighting in a building. Sensors can detect your presence and, as a result, control the light. Initially this can save energy, however, if sensors collect the data on a daily basis, you can become smart about the usage of the building. Another example is a sensor in the road. By collecting data on the amount of traffic passing, it can indicate the usage of the roads and possibly highlight how to redirect traffic or expand the roads. It’s all about being intelligent with the available data. That’s why the Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming such a hot topic.

Now, back to the data centre. How much time are you spending collecting data about your data centre? Do you use sensors? Studies show that data centre technicians are spending 70 percent of their time documenting network activity. Indeed, technicians can often spend three weeks tracing patch cords to update their records, only to find them out of date and inaccurate the next day. On top of this, 70 percent of network failures are attributed to network cabling. This poses the question: why not use sensors?

For data centres, the term DCIM has been developed, which means Data Centre Infrastructure Management. Wikipedia defines this as a category of solutions which was created to extend the traditional data centre management function to include all of the physical assets and resources found in the Facilities and IT domains. Over time, DCIM deployments will integrate information technology and facility management disciplines to centralise monitoring, management and intelligent capacity planning of a data centre’s critical systems.

The company I work for uses Connection Point Identification (CPID) chips as the sensors, which is the core technology behind the system we call Quareo. The CPID chips are factory-installed on each connector and includes all of the critical parameters of the assembly, including a unique serial number for each connector.

When a connector is inserted into a Quareo enabled panel or frame system, the chip is automatically read and the connection event is documented in the database. When the other end of the cable assembly is installed, the system reads that chip and, through its unique ID, associates the two ports as being connected. When a connector is removed, the event is immediately recognised and the system is automatically updated.

So, now you can start crunching the data and become smart about the utilisation of your data centre. For example, you could monitor your port count usage. Other benefits are faster service turn-up, greater network security, and technician guidance for workforce efficiency. If you want to learn more, please check-out the following link http://www.te.com/en/industries/enterprise-networks/quareo-global.html or type Quareo in your browser.

Hope to ‘meet’ you again!