Sunbird Software Introduces DCIM 5.0; Enables Smart Data-Aware and Efficient Data Centers

SOMERSET, N.J., Oct. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sunbird Software, a global innovator in software solutions that simplify how data centers are managed, announced today general availability of Sunbird DCIM 5.0 (data center infrastructure management) software.  Sunbird DCIM 5.0 makes it easier to capture and visualize data center infrastructure information, automate administrative processes, and get answers quickly to capacity and health questions.

"In developing DCIM 5.0 we listened to our 850 DCIM customers worldwide who helped us focus our software development on solving real customer problems.  Our new software helps data center operators manage tasks and processes faster and more efficiently than ever before while saving costs and improving availability," said Herman Chan, President of Sunbird Software.  "Making data centers smart and data-aware with continuous resource monitoring and built-in analytics is changing how data centers are managed and used.  Sunbird DCIM enables data center resources to be used more efficiently and to be shifted to meet new and changing business demands."

New in Sunbird's dcTrack® 5.0 for DCIM Operations is an enterprise-wide, user-configurable dashboard with a modern drag-and-drop tile-based user interface, Live Charts for predictive analysis, and an improved mobile app for at-the-rack audits using smart mobile devices and tablets.  Enhancements in Sunbird's PowerIQ® 5.0 for DCIM Monitoring support new faster health polling, offer dynamic plug-ins for additional MIB configurations, and provide updates to rack thresholds and Smart Pages for viewing of circuit load data.

Visualization & User Interface Enhancements

Sunbird's new Enterprise Dashboard provides dynamic views of an entire enterprise on a single pane of glass – with each data center represented by a color-changing tile based on live data.  Data capacity and health status are shown with easy-to-understand red, yellow and green indicators.  Accessible from any web browser, the dashboard enables users at all levels of an organization to navigate virtually among cabinets, floors, and multiple data centers.

• A CIO/CEO -- who may be concerned about strategic growth and increasing demand for IT services -- can see at a glance a high-level view of available resources (power, equipment, rack space, ports, cooling) for each data center. 
• Users can perform "what-if" analysis on the impact to resources if servers are added or other changes made to a data center.
• An operations manager could drill further down to determine which cabinets would be the ideal location to host new servers based on power, cooling and space availability. The manager could also use the dashboard to monitor for potential issues to help meet service level agreements.  If there is a problem, the user can quickly see the cascading effect of the problem on all resources.

By clicking on a tile, additional detailed information on resources is provided; users can navigate through various logical layers -- down to a health floor map, to a cabinet, then to a server or other asset with details on ports, power connections, energy usage and other valuable information.  Enterprise Dashboard views are user configurable with drag-and-drop ease, and can scale to monitor hundreds of sites.

A new user interface to DCIM's Paperless Audit Mobile App makes it easier to conduct audits using iOS and Android mobile phones and tablets. Coupled with a Bluetooth handheld scanner, the audit app's new bar code search and input capabilities make it easier to track equipment and to make updates on the go. From the data center floor, the app also can be used to initiate requests to install, move, and decommission a device.  It can be used to view and complete work orders, as well as verify that an installation was done according to plan. 

Predictive Analytics -- Modeling/Simulation Capabilities

New Live Charts were added to make it easier to identify stranded power capacity in data centers, helping to avoid the expense of deploying new cabinets.  Side-by-side views of redundant cabinet PDUs provide valuable information on potential power supply failures.  Additional views allow for trend analysis of circuit breaker limits and real-time loads to predict potential failures.

Health Map provides a bird's-eye view of entire white space and visual alerts of abnormal operation conditions that might lead to data center downtime.  An inspector with Real-time Readings and alarm details enables drill down capabilities to investigate the root cause and possible remediation. 

Other Features

New Specialized Polling Engine optimized for early health alerts.  The new alert engine augments the existing data polling engine that is focused on highly accurate data collection at a one-second frequency.

Enhanced support for LDAP and Active Directory

Enhanced Import and Export makes it easier to add large amounts of data and quickly and resolves data quality issues with automatic validation. 

Availability

Sunbird's dcTrack DCIM Operations 5.0 and PowerIQ DCIM Monitoring 5.0 are available worldwide on a cabinet/month subscription or license basis.  DCIM 5.0's smart import wizard, auto-discovery engine, intuitive visualization tools, predictive analytics and automated reporting are all designed to support easy deployment and use.  For a test drive, visit http://www.sunbirddcim.com/test-drive

Comments from Customers & Industry Analysts:

University of North Texas System
Bart Luedemann, Manager, Operations and Infrastructure Services
"The enterprise dashboard in Release 5.0 provides me with a single pane of glass to view and drill down into the status of our data centers.  Release 5.0 also easily identifies stranded capacity, enabling me to realize maximum utilization of my existing infrastructure.  You wouldn't fly a plane without instrumentation telling you where you are, the health of your equipment, and how much fuel you have. Sunbird DCIM 5.0 provides data centers with instrumentation that gives you the right information to manage your enterprise."

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Laura Mechler, Manager, Global Hosting Resources
"Sunbird Software DCIM 5.0 is our eyes into our remote collocation facilities.  It replaces all of our spreadsheets for tracking assets.  The new dashboard provides an accurate bird's-eye view of capacity and health and lets us easily drill down to details.  The DCIM-generated reports on capacity and assets have been invaluable for managing assets and resources and save us hours of effort each week."

EMA
Steve Brasen, Research Director at Enterprise Management Associates (EMA)
"The effective management of enterprise IT infrastructures requires holistic visibility that clearly maps in real time the relationship of hardware components, resources, and environmental conditions.  With the release of DCIM 5.0, Sunbird has taken a major leap towards enabling the dynamic management of IT ecosystems through the strategic use of predictive analytics and intuitive dashboards that will drive improved IT performance and efficiencies."

Gartner
April Adams, Research Director-Data Center Infrastructure and Management team, and Federico De Silva, Research Director-Technology and Service Provider research team
"The ultimate promise of DCIM is to take the various inputs from power monitoring, environmental monitoring and IT resource (asset) management — which are each useful and valuable on their own — and combine them to create value that is more than the sum of those parts. By enabling strong visualization, integrating those capabilities with workflow management systems and applying analytics in the form of predictive analysis or modeling/simulation, the potential is opened up to proactively optimize the data center, with all the operating expenditure/capital expenditure benefits that come along with that." [Source: Gartner, Inc., SWOT: iTRACS DCIM Solution, Worldwide, April 15, 2015]

IDC
Jennifer Koppy, Research Director-Datacenter Management
"As the pressure for 'faster, better, cheaper' services continues in the delivery of IT services, efficient management of data center resources will be a competitive differentiator.  Data center managers are turning to DCIM to keep pace and to gain the most from their existing physical data center resources and to reduce costs. 

Sunbird's new DCIM release provides real-time monitoring, predictive analytics, and increased automation of tasks – all key to helping enterprises better understand and better manage data center resources.  Having a single and trusted version of the truth regarding data center assets is essential for audits, capacity planning, and strategic planning on decisions about where and how computing should be performed based on costs per workload."

About Sunbird Software
Sunbird Software is changing the way data centers are being managed. Since 2008 Sunbird has been a leading global provider of DCIM software.  With a focus on real user scenarios for real customer problems, we help data center operators manage tasks and processes faster and more efficient than ever before, while saving costs and improving availability. We strive to eliminate the complexity they have been forced to accept from point tools and homegrown applications, removing the dependency on emails and spreadsheets to transform the delivery of data center services.  Sunbird delivers on this commitment with unexpected simplicity through products that are easy to find, buy, deploy, use, and maintain.  Our solutions are rooted in our deep connections with our customers who share best practices and participate in our user groups and product development process.  Learn more today at http://www.sunbirdDCIM.com.

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