Continuous improvement using InCommand developments for the latest data center operations.
Too often CIOs view the data center as a black box. In order to see what is happening inside it is important that they understand the tools that are revolutionizing data center operations and driving digital transformation.
A physical environment such as a data center does not have to be a siloed operation where different elements are managed separately by disparate teams using old processes and aging technologies.
Instead tools such as InCommand are developing at a pace that reflects the changing nature of data center operations from being a steady state single universe to operating as a range of different environments that require responsiveness and flexibility. InCommand manages the physical layer assets through visibility and monitoring of what is happening in every slot in the data center for the CIO, CTO, operations and IT managers.
“Enterprises need to know where they are and what they have so they can plan for what is needed.”
Companies that want to execute digital transformation use Serverfarm’s InCommand software to address the management of physical environments. Enterprises don’t want to worry about underlying hardware investments but instead want to focus on adopting new technologies to drive transformation that meet the business objectives.
InCommand at the heart of the data center
Within enterprises the IT and DC operations departments are under pressure to make operations more efficient, doubly so when they are being tasked with servicing new types of critical workloads. For example, a company may already be operating thousands of cabinets and before it can facilitate a new development project it needs to have access to real time data about the physical environment. This ensures teams have visibility into consumption, and available redundancy across different stacks, to ensure the availability of sufficient infrastructure for capacity planning to support the new project.
Enterprises need to know where they are and what they have so they can plan for what is needed. They need to have transparency to support the workload and the pipeline.
A good example of why CIOs want the management of the physical infrastructure taken care of can be found in the roll out of microservices. With all the requirements for security, continuous development and continuous integration, containers rely on robust infrastructure, which often means turning on as much as when it is needed across different devices and appliances.
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InCommand and Machine Learning
A separate but not dissimilar example may be found when organizations start looking to use machine learning. This can require burstable capacity for particular workloads, which scales and contracts because the data sets are unpredictable. InCommand helps enterprises engage ML and AI by monitoring which devices are available for use, so enterprises don’t have to worry about what is happening at the physical layer.
“Serverfarm operates a culture of continuous learning in its software development.”
InCommand has its own Machine Learning attributes. The platform algorithms learn to manage and monitor the physical data center, providing insight on capacity, redundancy and system behaviour informing operators how to utilize the data center more efficiently. In the future, InCommand will be responsive based on specific customer requirements as it learns more and more about their particular facilities.
InCommand software development
With so many data centers already relying on InCommand, Serverfarm operates a culture of continuous learning in its software development strategy.
The existing short sprint development cadence of InCommand tools ensure it is already responsive to changing data center operations. DevOps methodologies are being adopted throughout the development lifecycle so that each new feature advance can move from development to production quickly without sacrificing software security and quality. All developments are maintained, monitored and spot checked with every change made following the correct procedures.
Serverfarm’s InCommand teams including business analysts and development team understand that continuous improvement needs constant monitoring through the right processes with monthly retrospective assessments of every change in development and operations.
Serverfarm knows that Digital Transformation means being able to scale up from zero to infinity in as many facilities as need support. For the management of the physical data center, this is what InCommand will provide to every type of organisation.