IT Network Infrastructure Drill-Down: Efficiency - Network Efficiency: Power, Cooling Readings Vital
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Getting
a read on power and cooling is vital for overall efficiency efforts, notes Ken
Brill, executive director of the Uptime Institute. Consolidation and
virtualization can be helpful, but CIOs also need to know how much they're
spending, and how much costs are rising. Given the increase in operating
expenses, it could turn out that consolidation doesn't increase efficiency as
much as an IT department may think.
"Even
just a few years ago, facility costs were low, maybe one to two percent of an
operating budget," says Brill. "But now, they're up to about five
percent, and it's very possible that the number will go much higher."
He
predicts that operating expenses could climb as high as 30 percent within the
next decade, which could thwart any cost savings achieved through better
efficiency.
Getting
Streamlined
The
first step toward more efficiency is understanding every nuance of the network,
Doggart says. Monitoring tools should be implemented that track network behavior,
from connection speed to temperature changes in the data center.
"There's
a whole slew of tools, and there are some sophisticated dashboards that let
CIOs understand quickly what's happening, and how issues like traffic are
affecting the network," he notes.
With
a baseline established in order to track improvements, a company can begin to
implement changes that might increase efficiency.
Optimization
tools can help boost efficiency, especially for wide area networks, bringing
gains to overall speed and application performance. With an optimized network,
it's easier to do consolidation tactics such as centralizing storage, as well
as improving services like disaster recovery.
Infrastructure 
