Emerson announces power to data processing data center management product

           Branded as Trellis the firm targets the market for converged management of infrastructure and IT (10/20/2010)

    Emerson Network Power launched a portfolio of hardware, software and services to manage both facilities and IT in the data center.

    The firm claims it has 'introduced the industry's first comprehensive data center infrastructure management (DCIM) solution.' The Trellis platform, as the portfolio has been branded, is based on the functionalities of Emerson's Aperture, Avocent, and Liebert DCIM solutions. Steve Hassell, president of the Avocent business of Emerson Network Power, said: "Organizations today lack visibility into the impact of virtualization and the use of high-density servers, and that keeps them from utilizing the full capacity of their equipment. With the Trellis platform, we intend to provide that visibility along with the tools to manage and optimize changes to the physical infrastructure." The company claims that in the US alone there is potential for $10bn in cost savings if data center managers utilise 10% more of available power capacity. The incomplete visibility into data center operations causes data center managers to make decisions that negatively impact efficiency, it says. For instance, data center managers currently reserve 20 percent or more of their power system capacity as a buffer against overload. This has become a standard practice because they lack a single, real-time view of operating conditions within the IT equipment and the power and cooling systems that support the IT equipment, instead relying on the face plate specifications rather than real-time performance indicators.
    Emerson says the combined solution will be available in Q4 next year but is pushing the market to purchase the components from its separate business divisions and saying a clear integration roadmap exists to derive the benefits of the portfolio as they roll out over the subsequent 12 -18 months. 'Each of these solutions will provide clear migration paths to the new Trellis platform and bring the customer a level of DCIM that no other solution in the market currently provides.'
Hassell was Emerson's vice president and chief information officer prior to his current role with Avocent, and he led the development of Emerson's 35,000-square-foot, LEED Gold-certified global data center, an initiative that gave him first-hand experience with the challenges facing even a state-of-the-art data center.
    The December 2009 acquisition of Avocent provided a strategic capability that is enabling Emerson to provide holistic insight and control across every aspect of the data center. The demand for this type of solution has been noted by several industry thought-leaders, including industry analyst firm Gartner.
    "By 2014, DCIM tools and processes will become mainstream in data centers, growing from 1% penetration (in 2010) to 60%. To take advantage of the benefits as they evolve, I&O (infrastructure and operations) leaders should begin the DCIM evaluation process in 2010 and 2011," said David Cappuccio, managing vice president and chief of research for the infrastructure teams with Gartner in his March 2010 report, "DCIM: Going Beyond IT."