Critical Capabilities for Data Center Infrastructure Management Tools

Transcription

1 Critical Capabilities for Data Center Infrastructure Tools 24 December 2014 ID:G Analyst(s): Jay E. Pultz, Federico De Silva, Naveen Mishra, Henrique Cecci, Tiny Haynes, David J. Cappuccio, April Adams VIEW SUMMARY DCIM tools support the diverse needs of colocation providers, large enterprises/managed service providers and midsize enterprises. This research provides data center managers with insight into seven DCIM tools and their ability to support these three uses cases. Overview Key Findings All seven products in this research met, and sometimes exceeded, the requirements for each of the three use cases. The DCIM products of Emerson, itracs, Nlyte Software, Panduit and Schneider Electric scored similarly high in the colocation provider use case. Nlyte Software's DCIM product scored the highest for the large enterprise/managed service provider and midsize enterprise use cases. Across the vendors, two critical capabilities were substantively less advanced than the others: environmental monitoring and predictive analysis. Although not included in the ratings or scoring, ease of use of all seven products was lacking, and the scalability of certain products may not meet the needs of all enterprises in the use cases. Recommendations Customize the weightings of the critical capabilities in this research to align with your specific EVIDENCE The evaluation in this research was based on: Ongoing research by the Gartner Data Center and DCIM research teams Consensus of seven Gartner analysts (the author and co authors of this research) and peer reviews by Gartner analyst Previous work on two research reports that formed the basis of the Critical Capabilities ("DCIM Solutions: How Do They DO That?" and "Best Practices: Optimize Your Data Center Utilization With DCIM") "DCIM Tools: Selection Criteria" Requested vendor provided documents, such as product specifications, that addressed the critical capabilities in depth In depth vendor product demonstrations and discussions that were focused on the critical capabilities in this research Customer references performed jointly for this critical capabilities and the associated Magic Quadrant Client inquiries CRITICAL CAPABILITIES METHODOLOGY This methodology requires analysts to identify the critical capabilities for a class of products or services. Each capability is then weighted in terms of its relative importance for specific product or service use cases. file:///users/rajatghosh/desktop/critical%20capabilities%20for%20data%20center%20infrastructure%20%20tools.html 1/14

2 needs, and evaluate the DCIM products accordingly. (The interactive overlay of the online version of this research makes this customization possible.) Seek clarification and references from DCIM vendors to determine whether their tools will scale to your environment. Use the concepts presented in this research to evaluate DCIM products beyond the seven products covered in this research, and reach out to Gartner analysts and DCIM vendors as needed. What You Need to Know This document was revised on 6 January The document you are viewing is the corrected version. For more information, see the Corrections page on gartner.com. Data center managers are deploying data center infrastructure management (DCIM) tools to support three major use cases: Colocation provider Large enterprise/managed service provider Midsize enterprise The colocation provider use case typically entails use of DCIM tools to monitor and manage only the facility itself, given that IT equipment is customer owned. Because DCIM critical capabilities have the same relative importance for both large enterprises and managed service providers, they share a single use case in this research. The midsize enterprise and large enterprise/managed service use cases are fairly similar, with the criticality of DCIM capabilities increasing in line with company size (Table 1 shows how DCIM critical capabilities vary in importance across the use cases.) In this research, we evaluate seven DCIM products and solutions on their ability to support the three uses cases by means of the products' critical capabilities. Further defined in the Critical Capabilities Definition section of this research, those capabilities are: Power monitoring Environmental monitoring Reporting/visualization Resource management IT physical asset monitoring and management Predictive analysis/model/simulation Workflow integration management This research is a companion to "Magic Quadrant for Data Center Infrastructure Tools," which rates DCIM vendors in the completeness of their vision and ability to execute. Analysis Next, products/services are rated in terms of how well they achieve each of the critical capabilities. A score that summarizes how well they meet the critical capabilities for each use case is then calculated for each product/service. "Critical capabilities" are attributes that differentiate products/services in a class in terms of their quality and performance. Gartner recommends that users consider the set of critical capabilities as some of the most important criteria for acquisition decisions. In defining the product/service category for evaluation, the analyst first identifies the leading uses for the products/services in this market. What needs are endusers looking to fulfill, when considering products/services in this market? Use cases should match common client deployment scenarios. These distinct client scenarios define the Use Cases. The analyst then identifies the critical capabilities. These capabilities are generalized groups of features commonly required by this class of products/services. Each capability is assigned a level of importance in fulfilling that particular need; some sets of features are more important than others, depending on the use case being evaluated. Each vendor s product or service is evaluated in terms of how well it delivers each capability, on a five point scale. These ratings are displayed side by side for all vendors, allowing easy comparisons between the different sets of features. Ratings and summary scores range from 1.0 to 5.0: 1 = Poor: most or all defined requirements not achieved 2 = Fair: some requirements not achieved 3 = Good: meets requirements 4 = Excellent: meets or exceeds some requirements 5 = Outstanding: significantly exceeds requirements To determine an overall score for each product in the use cases, the product ratings are multiplied by the weightings to come up with the product score in use cases. The critical capabilities Gartner has selected do not represent all capabilities for any product; therefore, may not represent those most important for a specific use situation or business objective. Clients should use a critical capabilities analysis as one of several sources of input about a product before making a product/service decision. file:///users/rajatghosh/desktop/critical%20capabilities%20for%20data%20center%20infrastructure%20%20tools.html 2/14

3 Critical Capabilities Use Case Graphics Figure 1. Vendors' Product Scores for Colocation Provider Use Case Note: Vendor scores within 0.05 of each other are equivalent. Source: Gartner (December 2014) Figure 2. Vendors' Product Scores for Large Enterprise/Managed Service Provider Use Case Note: Vendor scores within 0.05 of each other are equivalent. Source: Gartner (December 2014) Figure 3. Vendors' Product Scores for Midsize Enterprise Use Case file:///users/rajatghosh/desktop/critical%20capabilities%20for%20data%20center%20infrastructure%20%20tools.html 3/14

4 Note: Vendor scores within 0.05 of each other are equivalent. Source: Gartner (December 2014) Vendors CA Technologies: Data Center Infrastructure With a focus on IT infrastructure management solutions, particularly IT operations management, CA Technologies made the strategic decision to incubate a DCIM product in 2009, as well as expand its strong asset management capabilities to include facilities management. In 2013, the product came out of incubation under the name CA DCIM. The product combines CA ecometer, a power management and environmental monitoring tool, with CA Visual Infrastructure, a 3D visualization tool for data center infrastructure assets that is made possible through a nonexclusive development partnership with Optimum Path. In addition to this partnership, CA is now partnered with Eaton. CA differentiates CA DCIM through integration approaches (namely, IT service management [ITSM] and facilities integration) and 3D visualization. Drawing on CA's history of success in ITSM, CA DCIM excels in IT physical asset management and control by leveraging CA Technologies' gateway and calculation engine capabilities. CA DCIM also offers strong reporting and visualization capabilities through CA Visual Infrastructure. As with the other DCIM products evaluated in this report, the current predictive analysis capabilities of CA DCIM include historical trending analytics and impact analysis for what if scenarios. Emerson: Trellis Platform/Avocent Universal Mgmt. Gateway Emerson entered the DCIM tools market by acquiring Avocent (2009) and Aperture (2008). Based on the knowledge and technology gained through these acquisitions, Emerson launched the Trellis platform in The Trellis platform is Emerson's flagship DCIM product and where Emerson focuses its new DCIM product development. file:///users/rajatghosh/desktop/critical%20capabilities%20for%20data%20center%20infrastructure%20%20tools.html 4/14

5 The Trellis platform utilizes another Emerson product, the Avocent Universal Gateway (UMG), as a front end. UMG communicates with IT and facility devices via their primary protocols (such as Modbus and Intelligent Platform Interface). In so doing, Emerson DCIM has access to the robust datasets associated with each device. Open APIs are utilized to ensure that all devices share the correct information. The modular architecture of the Trellis platform is a key differentiator between it and many competing DCIM products, as the architecture enables customers to avoid buying more capabilities than they need. The architecture also enables Emerson to readily expand the product offering; for example, Emerson plans to add its Thermal Manager module in early Additionally, Emerson offers two prepackaged versions of the Trellis platform to enable customers to get into DCIM through the two most common entry points: energy management and asset/resource management. The Trellis platform supports all of the critical capabilities in this research at high levels. Emerson needs to make the Trellis platform significantly easier to use. However, all products we have analyzed in this Critical Capabilities report have a similar drawback. itracs: Converged Physical Infrastructure itracs entered the DCIM market in 2009, with the introduction of its Converged Physical Infrastructure (CPIM) product. itracs operated as a private company from its inception in the late 1980s, and it sold asset management software until March 2013, when it was acquired by the publicly traded company CommScope. itracs has made frequent and ongoing enhancements to CPIM, and as a result, today's CPIM offering (version 3.4), supports all of the critical capabilities in this research at high levels. itracs differentiates CPIM from other vendors' DCIM tools through strong reporting and visualization capabilities. To this end, CPIM includes a portal called mydcim, which offers role based and customizable dashboards. itracs also includes a drag and drop report builder that is easy to use. It also provides the flexibility to include any data point that CPIM tracks, as well as display that data according to user preference. Visualization with CPIM includes both 2D and 3D options. The 3D graphics are particularly well executed, emphasizing the ability to view connectivity links, and to remove specific assets and interconnections from the view to reduce clutter and help the user focus only on the assets, asset interrelationships and power chain traces that are of interest. In addition, CPIM performs well at workflow integration, offering a robust work order generation capability that includes visual instructions, auto discovery to validate that the install was completed correctly, and unidirectional and bidirectional links to ITSM. itracs continues to work on its predictive analysis, modeling and simulation capabilities. Currently, CPIM supports what if scenarios and uses historical trends to estimate the future state of the data center. CPIM also has some modeling and simulation capabilities, and itracs has planned continued enhancements in both of these areas. Nlyte Software: Nlyte 7.0 Now in its seventh major release since 2004, the Nlyte Software's DCIM product has, with each release, become increasingly refined in scalability, speed and analytics. Nlyte 7.0 is a software only DCIM, available in both on premises and as a service. Nlyte Software's DCIM tool is differentiated by its file:///users/rajatghosh/desktop/critical%20capabilities%20for%20data%20center%20infrastructure%20%20tools.html 5/14

6 architecture, which features a centralized database called the Content Database (CDB) that enables all data, at all levels of any device, to be associated with a single image. All of this DCIM tool's monitoring, measurement, analysis and interface modules utilize CDB, making the tool's architecture analogous to that of an ERP system. Nlyte 7.0 has an automated workflow engine that is strongly integrated with ITSM processes and tools, including those of BMC, HP and ServiceNow. Nlyte Software monitors both physical and virtual assets, and works with most hardware sensors, meters and probes. Nlyte Software's DCIM product addresses our critical capabilities at a high level, with its strong suit of change management, capacity planning, resource and asset management for both historical and current configurations. Although the CDB models assets in 3D, Nlyte Software purposely visualizes the data center in 2D to avoid display conflicts. Reporting in Nlyte 7.0 is very well thought out. Nlyte Software has a strong what if scenario feature set. Panduit: SmartZone DCIM/SynapSense Founded in 1955, Panduit began as a manufacturer of electrical, networking and facilities management tools. The company released SmartZone DCIM as an advanced rendition of what had once been Physical Infrastructure Manager, a facilities focused software tool. Today, SmartZone DCIM, incorporating functionality from SynapSense and Unite Technologies acquisitions, constitutes Panduit's complete DCIM offering. SmartZone DCIM provides the foundation of the DCIM capabilities, with both wired and wireless sensor hardware for environmental monitoring. SmartZone also provides asset tracking and management, remote management and connectivity, capacity planning, and power and environmental management. Panduit makes these sets of modular capabilities available on their own (including SynapSense), enabling customers to buy only what they need. SmartZone DCIM allows for the monitoring and management of multiple data centers and can roll up all data center information to provide a holistic view. As a point of differentiation, SmartZone DCIM provides insight into the dependencies between data center assets, enabling data center managers to pinpoint issues in the power chain, or better understand the widespread effect of potential hardware failures. SynapSense Active Control provides monitoring and automation controls to match cooling capacity to meet the changing IT loads. SmartZone DCIM offers customizable reporting and strong visualization features, with a role based user interface. Asset tracking, which includes tracking of alarms, is also particularly strong, given the company's background in facilities management. SmartZone DCIM also integrates well with workload systems. In addition, SmartZone DCIM offers strong capacity planning features. Raritan: dctrack DCIM Operations/PowerIQ DCIM Monitoring Raritan is a private company founded in 1985 as a keyboard, video, mouse vendor. The company has since expanded its physical infrastructure product lines to include smart racks, intelligent power distribution units (PDUs) and asset tagging systems. Raritan entered the DCIM tools market in Raritan's DCIM offering consists of two products: dctrack DCIM Operations and Power IQ DCIM Monitoring. dctrack DCIM Operations provides asset management, including capacity and change file:///users/rajatghosh/desktop/critical%20capabilities%20for%20data%20center%20infrastructure%20%20tools.html 6/14

7 management; Power IQ DCIM Monitoring provides power, energy and environmental monitoring for data center IT and facilities. Together, these two fully integrated products cover the breadth of capabilities needed to qualify as DCIM. The two products are targeted at the most common entry points we see clients making: IT asset management and power monitoring. The products can be purchased separately. Raritan's DCIM tools are fully integrated with Raritan's other physical infrastructure products, such as smart racks and PDUs; however, third party smart PDUs are supported as well. Raritan's DCIM tools provide very granular data center monitoring without the need for third party add ons. To ease implementation, Raritan's DCIM tools utilize autodiscovery, an extensive model library and premade templates. As an open standards based solution, Raritan's workflow capabilities integrate well with leading ITSM products, including configuration management databases (CMDBs). dctrack DCIM Operations supports asset life cycle management, with the ability to track assets down to the device power supplies and data ports. When it comes to predictive analysis, Raritan's DCIM products can do historical trending analysis for the forecasting of future space, power and capacity needs. Raritan's DCIM tools offer a rich array of reporting options. Schneider Electric: StruxureWare for Data Centers Schneider Electric's DCIM product offering, StruxureWare for Data Centers, is built on a software platform that is used for critical facility management in industries, such as energy, utilities, healthcare and manufacturing. StruxureWare for Data Centers consists of the following: an executive level view called Resource Advisor; Data Center Expert, Cooling Monitoring Expert, Power Monitoring Expert and StruxureWare Data Center Operation. Available in enterprise and colocation versions, StruxureWare Data Center Operation consists of 13 module/product enhancement options that partially overlap the other modules. The overall architecture is complex and confusing, making it difficult for customers to decide which module and option parts of the DCIM tool to purchase. However, StruxureWare for Data Centers, as a whole, supports all the critical capabilities at high levels in this research. StruxureWare for Data Centers has strong power and environmental monitoring capabilities, which is not surprising given Schneider Electric's heritage. The product allows for management of both physical and virtual assets. It also offers power capping via Intel Data Center Manager, and new cooling control capabilities through a partnership with Vigilent. Mobile access is also available for the product, while workflow automation remains a work in progress. Context Traditionally, the facilities management team has monitored and managed data center power and cooling systems, as well as physical space. About five years ago, the data center team's concerns regarding power, cooling and space began to grow, spurring the need for DCIM tools. This growing concern came about for several reasons: Data center growth and the cost of that growth. By around 2010, the continued growth of data centers made understanding the performance and capacity of these functions critical for data center teams. This was especially true of the largest enterprises, where less than optimized file:///users/rajatghosh/desktop/critical%20capabilities%20for%20data%20center%20infrastructure%20%20tools.html 7/14

8 power, cooling and physical space usage could result in hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not considerably more, in wasted expenses Increasing concern about uptime. Data center managers have grown more concerned about the reliability of power and cooling systems, since these systems have the largest impact on uptime. Limited capabilities of building management systems and existing techniques. Data center managers needed to understand what was happening in data center power and cooling in a level of detail that existing, facilities oriented building management systems could not provide. IT asset management systems fell short of showing the interrelationship of data center assets. Moreover, ad hoc monitoring and reporting grew increasingly cumbersome with data center size. Since their emergence, DCIM tools, which once lacked much commonality from one to the next, now have similar capabilities. At the same time the DCIM market has grown in maturity, CMDB tools have grown pervasive across businesses, providing much of the data needed to implement DCIM tools. In addition, many DCIM tools now contain autodiscovery features, enabling them to automatically discover data center assets for monitoring. Moreover, most DCIM tools can augment these data sources with strategically placed sensors. Product/Service Class Definition DCIM tools monitor, measure, manage and/or control data center resources and energy consumption of both IT related equipment (such as servers, storage and network switches) and facilities infrastructure components (such as PDUs and computer room air conditioning [CRAC]). These tools are used to optimize data center capacity, including power, cooling, and space usage, helping to control costs, manage data center growth and reduce the chance of IT service outages. Technology providers deliver DCIM tools as software, through a bundled hardware/software package or as a service. Critical Capabilities Definition The following sections contain definitions of the seven critical capabilities that form the basis of this note. For further detail on how Gartner views the many possible implementations of these capabilities, see "DCIM Solutions: How Do They DO That?" Power Monitoring This capability refers to a DCIM tool's ability to monitor the power usage of both IT equipment (such as servers, storage and network switches) and facilities equipment (such as PDUs and CRACs). Scores for this capability take into consideration the timing of data collection, from near real time, all the way to static collection, such as through the manual entry of nameplate ratings. Scores also take into consideration data collection methods and a tool's ability to determine initial power requirements, for example, through autodiscovery. Lastly, scores reflect the granularity of monitoring, from a room, to component level. Environmental Monitoring This capability refers to a DCIM tool's ability to measure and monitor in near real time temperature, file:///users/rajatghosh/desktop/critical%20capabilities%20for%20data%20center%20infrastructure%20%20tools.html 8/14

9 humidity and other environmental metrics at least down to the rack level. Scores for this capability take into account the breadth of environmental factors that the DCIM tool can monitor, such as rack inlet temperature, change in rack temperature and leak detection. The scores also reflect whether the tool collects data by sensors (and from a range of vendors), or by some other method, such as through another kind of hardware component. Lastly, scores take into account the granularity of monitoring, from the room, to component level. Reporting/Visualization This capability refers to a DCIM tool's ability to report on and visualize data center power and environmental data. Scores for this capability account for a tool's ability to perform historical trending and provide alerts, for instance, when a metric approaches a defined threshold. Scores also take into consideration reporting format and delivery mechanism, including the ability to provide template and customizable reports and dashboards, and whether they are accessible via mobile devices. Further, the scores in this capability reflect the visualization capabilities of the tool. This includes whether the tool provides 2D or 3D visualization, animation of visualizations, role based visualization, asset drill down, the ability to view connectivity links and/or the ability to perform an impact analysis. Resource This capability refers to a DCIM tool's ability to track the location and interrelationship of data center IT and facilities components (in some cases, all the way down to the components' position in the racks), and provides insight into those components' utilization levels. Scores for this capability take into consideration a tool's ability to support the initial DCIM deployment, for instance, through the autodiscovery of data center components. Scores also take into consideration the granularity of resource management, all the way down to the tracking of an IT asset in a server rack. Lastly, scores for this capability reflect the added resource management functionality of a particular DCIM tool, such as tracking floor loading/weight, providing a display of interdependencies and integration with other software to provide a more comprehensive view of data center resources. IT Phys. Asset Monitoring & Mgmt. This capability refers to a DCIM tool's ability to monitor and manage the performance and power consumption of data center assets, such as servers. Scores for this capability reflect a tool's ability to monitor the performance and power consumption of IT assets, such as servers, and to manage those IT assets in a variety of ways. While this capability can be useful, it is a complement to DCIM, rather than a core functionality. Scores also take into consideration resource control the ability to optimize the performance of various resources (such as CRACS, fans and PDUs) based on environmental or operational thresholds, rather than direct operator action. Scores also take into consideration whether resource control dynamically turns devices on and off and controls variables, like fan speed. A tool's additional capabilities, such as the ability to monitor and manage fire alarms, physical security, cable and shifting workloads, also weighed on the score. file:///users/rajatghosh/desktop/critical%20capabilities%20for%20data%20center%20infrastructure%20%20tools.html 9/14

10 Predictive Analysis/Modeling/Sim. This capability refers to a DCIM tool's ability to provide predictive analytics, modeling and simulation of data center power, cooling and physical space usage. Predictive analysis refers to a DCIM tool's ability to use historical trends or sample data to estimate the future state of the data center. Modeling and simulation are similar to predictive analysis, except, instead of projecting the future based on historical data, they create a simplified model of the data center based on a snapshot at a certain point in time, and then apply various conditions to the model to estimate likely future states. Scores for this capability take into consideration a tool's ability to perform predictive analysis and whatif scenarios. Scores also take into consideration the tool's ability to perform modeling and simulation. Workflow Integration Mgmt. This capability refers to a DCIM tool's ability to leverage the resource management and predictive analysis/modeling/simulation capabilities of the DCIM tool to improve workflow processes, either through its own workflow capabilities or by integrating with an IT service support management tool. Scores for this capability reflect a tool's ability to not simply support workflow processes, but also generate a work order. Scores also reflect the ability for the workflow to tell a user where to perform an install, what power/circuit to make a connection to, which LAN to connect to and which cables to connect to. Use Cases Colocation Provider This use case involves using a DCIM tool to monitor and manage a colocation facility at the customer level. Colocation providers utilize DCIM tools to optimize use of power, cooling and space in their data centers. They also use DCIM as a means to understand their customers' consumption of these, given that usage equates to prices charged to customers. Colocation providers do not, in most cases, monitor all the way down to the level of a customer's individual servers, as their customers own and manage their IT equipment located in the colocation data center. However, in some cases, colocation providers will provide DCIM to their customers as a value added service. Power monitoring has the highest weight in this use case, given that power is a primary component of the colocation providers' pricing model. Environmental monitoring and resource management have high weights because these critical capabilities help keep the colocation facility optimized. IT physical asset monitoring, and management and workflow integration management do not weigh on this use case at all because those capabilities are IT oriented, and most of the IT equipment is the customer's responsibility. Midsize Enterprise This use case involves using a DCIM tool to monitor and manage the data center assets of a midsize file:///users/rajatghosh/desktop/critical%20capabilities%20for%20data%20center%20infrastructure%20%20tools.html 10/14

11 enterprise. Data centers in midsize enterprises typically range up to a few thousand square feet in area. (Note: Gartner defines midsize enterprises as having $50 million to $1 billion in annual revenue and/or 100 to 999 employees. However, these ranges may vary by geographic region.) Given typical budget constraints, midsize enterprises are willing to forgo certain DCIM capabilities where manual processes are still viable. Midsize enterprises, for instance, may still be able to monitor and manage data center power, cooling and physical space usage manually, without a noticeable, negative impact on the business, if the data center is small enough. As data center size increases, however, the ability to perform the functions of a DCIM tool using manual processes grows increasingly cumbersome. Reporting/visualization weights the most on this use case because DCIM offers the ability to drill down to the rack level a capability lacking in many single product tools. IT physical asset monitoring and management and workflow integration management are of next highest and equal importance because standard IT service support management tools may be sufficient to handle these capabilities. Power monitoring, environmental monitoring and predictive analysis/modeling/simulation are of equal, although very little, importance due essentially to the smaller size of these data centers. Large Enterprise/Managed Service Provider This use case involves using a DCIM tool to monitor and manage the data center assets of a large enterprise or a managed service provider. (Note: In this report, we are using "managed service providers" to include all data center service providers, with the exception of those offering colocation services only.) In this use case, data centers can be in the hundreds of thousands of square feet, but most are in the range of several thousand square feet, to several tens of thousands of square feet. Tasked with managing very large data centers, data center managers in this use case find ad hoc and simple graphic tools inadequate for the scale involved, making DCIM tools a necessity. Moreover, the risks of not using a DCIM tool increase with data center size. For large enterprises and managed service providers, less than optimal data center power, cooling and physical space usage can result in extremely high and unnecessary costs. Finding broken or failing equipment can also become an increasingly difficult task with growing data center size, putting demands on technology to solve the problem. Workflow integration management has the highest importance in this use case, given the large volume of change that occurs. Power monitoring, environmental monitoring, reporting/visualization, resource management, and IT physical asset monitoring and management are of equal and high importance, due to environmental complexity. Predictive analysis/model/simulation is of smaller importance given the current state of this capability within available DCIM tools. Inclusion Criteria file:///users/rajatghosh/desktop/critical%20capabilities%20for%20data%20center%20infrastructure%20%20tools.html 11/14

12 This research includes products from the seven vendors in "Magic Quadrant for Data Center Infrastructure Tools" that had the highest weighted scores for vision and ability to execute. Table 1. Weighting for Critical Capabilities in Use Cases Critical Capabilities Colocation Provider Large Enterprise/Managed Service Provider Midsize Enterprise Power Monitoring 30% 15% 5% Environmental Monitoring 25% 15% 5% Reporting/Visualization 15% 15% 25% Resource 25% 15% 20% IT Physical Asset Monitoring and Predictive Analysis/Modeling/Simulation 0% 15% 20% 5% 5% 5% Workflow Integration Mgmt. 0% 20% 20% Total 100% 100% 100% Source: Gartner (December 2014) As of September 2014 This methodology requires analysts to identify the critical capabilities for a class of products/services. Each capability is then weighed in terms of its relative importance for specific product/service use cases. Critical Capabilities Rating Table 2. Product/Service Rating on Critical Capabilities Product or Service Ratings CA Technologies: Data Center Infrastructure Emerson Trellis Platform: Avocent Universal Gateway itracs: Converged Physical Infrastructure Nlyte Software: Nlyte 7.0 Panduit: SmartZone DCIM/SynapSense file:///users/rajatghosh/desktop/critical%20capabilities%20for%20data%20center%20infrastructure%20%20tools.html 12/14

13 Power Monitoring Environmental Monitoring Reporting/Visualization Resource IT Physical Asset Monitoring and Predictive Analysis/Modeling/Simulation Workflow Integration Source: Gartner (December 2014) Table 3 shows the product/service scores for each use case. The scores, which are generated by multiplying the use case weightings by the product/service ratings, summarize how well the critical capabilities are met for each use case. Table 3. Product Score in Use Cases Use Cases CA Technologies: Data Center Infrastructure Emerson: Trellis Platform/Avocent Universal Gateway itracs: Converged Physical Infrastructure Nlyte Software: Nlyte 7.0 Panduit: SmartZone DCIM/SynapSense Colocation Provider Large Enterprise/Managed Service Provider Midsize Enterprise Source: Gartner (December 2014) To determine an overall score for each product/service in the use cases, multiply the ratings in Table 2 by the weightings shown in Table 1. file:///users/rajatghosh/desktop/critical%20capabilities%20for%20data%20center%20infrastructure%20%20tools.html 13/14

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