IIM: “Must Haves” for mixed environments

INTELLIGENT INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT (IIM) is a field-proven concept designed specifically to keep infrastructure control firmly in IT hands. When IIM was pioneered two decades ago, its goal was to streamline and error-proof network infrastructure operations through the use of self-aware network components, a central data repository and intelligent processes

Today, the core IIM concept remains the same, but it has been extended with power, documentation, environmental and other capabilities that make it even more valuable for the data center.

The IIM concept has become well accepted for use in the overall communications infrastructure. In fact, one in three IT professionals today claim that intelligent infrastructure has been a key to increasing their productivity1 by decreasing network downtime, optimizing power and space usage, accelerating service deployment and enhancing security - all at a lower cost than manual methods. In datacenters, IIM usage is just now beginning to gain interest. The ESG Group2 reported that “…data center networks remain anchored to physical devices and manual processes…”, with approximately 40% of respondents surveyed reporting that their main operational problems remain the manual processes that lead to change and configuration management problems.

In contrast, research3 has repeatedly shown that more rigorous, intelligent management can save as much as 20-30% of an organization’s overall operating costs – while simultaneously bringing companies into compliance with new industry best-practices mandating IIM as the best platform for data center efficiency and controllability.

IIM in detail
The aim of today’s state-of-the-art IIM systems is to enable clear visibility and effective management of the entire IT infrastructure, including end-user equipment (servers, PCs, IP phones, printers, etc.), connectivity infrastructure (cabinets, cabling, etc.), power, cooling and environment monitoring elements, and security elements.

IIM systems contribute significant efficiency and value to all types of daily and long-term IT tasks:
£ Provisioning and Service Deployment: Using advanced IIM solutions, data centers are able to streamline - and even to automate - the planning and implementation of flawless provisioning and the MACs (moves, adds and changes) needed to make it happen, enabling the IT staff to focus on “what to provision” rather than “how to provision”. In planning each provisioning task, the system considers the status of all network components and deployment rules, and then calculates the optimal resource allocation. It then produces a multi-team work order automatically for all required MACs, and tracks it until it is fully completed. The result: reduced downtime and human error, and a significant increase in productivity.
£ Fault Management: According to Forrester Research4, most disaster recovery operations are caused by mundane events that escape detection, and several surveys5 assert that the main cause for downtime is the “human element”. According to the Ponemon Institute, the downtime costs $5,600 per minute on average, or $336,000 per hour. Serving as the IT staff’s “never sleeping eyes and ears,” IIM systems continuously monitor all connections at the patching level - and provide immediate alerts when faults or disconnections are sensed. The IT staff, armed in real time with exact fault locations, is able to correct the problem in the shortest time possible, resulting in minimal network disruption.
£ IT Asset Management: The mobile era has made it harder and harder to track IT equipment – especially laptops, IP phones and tablets, some of which can cost $1,000 or more per unit. IT asset management systems keep constant track of each and every device, and can even re-discover lost or “orphaned” equipment. As a result, according to Gartner6, the use of IT asset management systems can save organizations 30% in equipment costs during the first year and at least 5% in each of the subsequent five years, resulting in value that often more than justifies the cost of the entire IIM system. Equally important in an era of rising governmental scrutiny, IIMs automate the equipment documentation process by monitoring the status, attributes, physical locations and movements of all network assets.
£ Security: 51% of IT data center professionals7 claim that security is their top challenge, with centralized identity, patch and update management cited as one of the top-3 must-haves (after endpoint protection and application layer firewalling). IIMs enhance security by acting as ‘invisible agents’ that look continuously for suspicious activities, and the more sophisticated IIMs can identify illegal or unscheduled connections/disconnections in real-time identification. Since IIMs can send out immediate alerts through email or instant messaging, many problems identified can even be handled from afar.
£ Environment and Power Management: With the power costs of today’s crowded data centers and communication rooms rising exponentially, it has become more important than ever to automate environment and power management, and new environmental legislations have raised the stakes to an even higher level. IIM solutions can be the answer to both budgetary and legislative concerns, improving the organization’s “green footprint” by reducing power usage significantly. For example, a 1U rack switch with 24 ports consumes 876 kWh per year, which, if generated by a coal-fired power plant, emits 1,852 pounds of carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere8. Using an IIM, the number of racks and switches used can be reduced significantly, and obsolete or malfunctioning equipment can easily be detected, corrected or replaced. Just as important, the documentation provided by the IIM represents a critical baseline that streamlines disaster recovery, provisioning, and other protocols.

Bringing IIM to the inter-connect environment
Today’s transition of networks to higher data transmission rates is giving rise to a new phenomenon: the “mixed” environment. In “mixed” data centers and networks, new inter-connect resources must interact and communicate with legacy cross-connect resources. As network topologies move from hierarchical to flat, they are becoming simultaneously more dynamic and interconnected. Forrester9 claims that current data centers need “a set of interwoven components that each add a unique value but work together as a unit.” As the traffic flow in data moves from “northbound and southbound” (application to user) to “eastbound and westbound” (application to application), existing network infrastructures are too “rigid and old to support the orchestration of services needed”. “New application architecture provides a model for developers to create flexible applications that can be spread across multiple physical devices to maximize available hardware resources, both locally and globally.”

This new frontier for IT environments clearly demands a resolute IIM that can support different topologies. With cross-connect and inter-connect topologies deployed, IIM needs to offer the flexibility needed to manage all the various, dynamic network aspects. By supporting both copper and fiber cabling, next-generation IIMs will be able to minimize the total equipment required – and will offer a real, managed solution for the entire mixed inter-connect and cross-connect topology. A system such as this will even be able to support the industry’s highest data transfer rates, reaching 10 Gbps, or 40/100 Gbps in fiber environments.

Sounds like a dream? Perhaps, but pioneering IIM developers are already moving in this direction. Next-generation IIMs will offer data center and network operators an advanced and cost-effective IIM platform that will manage all the components of the network infrastructure no matter how complex or expansive the network, from large to small-ticket items, while automating all daily operations and optimizing the network’s overall performance.

Conclusion
Current IIM presents a scalable, secure and reliable solution for minimizing power usage and managing power failures, improving physical-layer planning, streamlining and automating provisioning and service deployment, expediting fault management, and closely managing cabinets and other assets. Advanced IIM systems encompass fewer components than ever before, using less electricity and enhancing the “green profile” of any organization. With network infrastructure becoming more complex and topologies increasingly interconnected, IIMs are evolving. Providing a new level of flexibility and efficiency to the ever-more constrained enterprises and data centres, next-generation IIMs will create a “fabric of horizontally interwoven networking components” and offer real, maximum return on investment.

Reference
1. CommScope Survey, March 26, 2013
2. Enterprise Strategy Group, “Data Center Networking Trends”, January 2012, http://www.esg-global.com/default/assets/File/DataCenterNetworkingInfographic.pdf
3. Gartner: DCIM Going Beyond IT (29 March 2010)
4. http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,46488,00.html
5. http://www.lifelinedatacenters.com/cost-of-downtime/
6. http://www.gartner.com/id=1745515
7. ESG Group, January 2012
8. Network World. http://www.networkworld.com/ngdc/AN4-070713_08_44_01.pdf
9. Forrester, Data Center Networking Hardware, Q1 2013