InCommand: Cracking the Code for Data Center Operations Pt II

Cloudify your data center with InCommand

Three Part Blog Series

This platform – and the people and processes behind it – provides all the benefits of data center management as a service (DMaaS), not simply from the cloud but as a Cloud.

In the first installment of this three-part series, we discussed the differences between data center management as a service (DMaaS) and data center infrastructure management (DCIM); now let’s dig into a true DMaaS solution that gets to the root of data center operations challenges.

“Is it designed by data center operators for operators? Or is it designed by a software development company for a market?”

The ongoing development of the InCommand DMaaS platform is different from anything designed by a software or infrastructure company. How and where software is developed points to a very subtle but profound difference in how software works. Some software developers do a terrific job. But when the end goal is selling software licenses, the focus of the developer can be on features and functions and not on service and outcomes.

In the case of DCIM software which claims to be DMaaS, here’s a valid question to ask: Is it designed by data center operators for operators? Or is it designed by a software development company for a market?

Over the two decades that Serverfarm has been operating data centers, the organization has built expertise across every discipline. What began as the company’s data center operations team creating a software platform to make Serverfarm’s operations more efficient for its customers has evolved into InCommand, a true DMaaS platform. InCommand did not develop as an attempt to address what were thought to be customer issues with data center management. It was built for the IT and physical infrastructure management needs based on real observations of what was happening inside live data centers.

 

InCommand was designed holistically. Using agile DevOps methods, it is being constantly iterated and updated to make all data center operations and every data center team more efficient.

Over the two decades that Serverfarm has been operating data centers, the organization has built expertise across every discipline. What began as the company’s data center operations team creating a software platform to make Serverfarm’s operations more efficient for its customers has evolved into InCommand, a true DMaaS platform. InCommand did not develop as an attempt to address what were thought to be customer issues with data center management. It was built for the IT and physical infrastructure management needs based on real observations of what was happening inside live data centers. InCommand was designed holistically. Using agile DevOps methods, it is being constantly iterated and updated to make all data center operations and every data center team more efficient.

It is important to note that InCommand is not restricted to use in Serverfarm facilities. It is available to enterprise customers who need to manage physical infrastructure wherever it is located. This can be in any commercial data center or cloud environment, in an on-premise environment, or within a Serverfarm data center.

It works with existing CMBD systems and is cloud agnostic.

Most, if not all IT environments are hybrid in one shape or another. Increasingly, data center strategies are also hybrid.

“Serverfarm InCommand DMaaS removes the infrastructure management headache by maximizing the return on infrastructure investment.”

But often, enterprises are trying to solve a major problem related to inconsistencies in how IT is managed and how staff operate. As IT responsibilities such as applications, database, cyber, network, storage and OS are often abstracted from the physical servers and equipment, the reality is that IT has not historically felt any need to track infrastructure assets or manage the performance of physical assets. For the company, this often resulted in the cost of maintenance and management of their data centers going way up because they don’t know which assets they have, where they are or how they’re connected.

This also added significantly to infrastructure CAPEX spending as under-utilized equipment was simply layered on in response to workload requirements. The key objective for IT was to get the application up and solve the immediate problem. This naturally created a long-term problem.

Serverfarm InCommand DMaaS removes the infrastructure management headache by maximizing the return on infrastructure investment.

This is done not by taking control away from the customer. IT teams retain total control of their application performance. InCommand provides every stakeholder with additional benefits, which range across green energy, metrics and accurate asset lists and locations.