The Data Center Infrastructure Management Market (DCIM)

Data center infrastructure management (DCIM) is a collection of tools and IT facilities within an organization that are responsible for monitoring, measuring, and managing data centers.

DCIM tools provide IT teams with a holistic view and access to their data center resources. They cover servers, storage, and network equipment, enabling users to manage energy consumption, ventilation, and environmental conditions.

See below to learn all about the global DCIM market:

DCIM market

The global DCIM market was estimated at $2 billion in 2022. It’s projected to maintain a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.9% over the analysis period from 2022 to 2026, reaching $2.9 billion by the end of it.

The DCIM solutions segment is projected to reach $2.2 billion by 2026, making up 75.8% of the global market. The DCIM services segment is set to grow at a CAGR of 12.4% over the same period.

Regionally, the global DCIM market is segmented as follows:

• The U.S. market was estimated at $1.1 billion in 2022, with a 55% share
• The Chinese market is forecast for a CAGR of 17.4% over the analysis period, reaching $1.8 million by 2026
• Japan and Canada are forecast to grow at a CAGR of 10.5% and 10.6% over the forecast period
• Within Europe, Germany is projected to maintain one of the highest CAGRs at 11.4%

By industry, the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector is expected to drive demand in the DCIM market.

Other notable industries include:

• IT
• Telecommunications
• Manufacturing
• Retail
• Health care
• Government

DCIM features

DCIM systems are responsible for the management of the four primary segments of a data center infrastructure: users, visualization, processing, and monitoring.

Depending on the scale, demand, and availability of the infrastructure segments, DCIM solutions include multiple components to allow things to run smoothly, such as:

Monitoring

DCIM monitoring tools are responsible for continuously collecting data from the data center infrastructure. They then analyze it in real-time to monitor performance, send out alerts, and measure energy and resource consumption.

Monitoring equipment and components include power distribution units (PDUs), external environment sensors, remote power panels (RPPs), and app server storage.

Asset inventory

Having an inventory of assets is a critical component of DCIM systems. It provides a comprehensive view of all available resources, their usage requirements, and demands, enabling you to understand the condition of existing structures.

Asset inventories track and manage everything from racks, servers, and storage to network equipment, power chains, and deployed applications.

Workflow management

DCIM systems and solutions enable you to create and set systematic routine operations and workflows for digital model planning, ticketing, managing, and auditing. It oversees workflows spanning multiple data centers and networks, and how they interact.

Workflow management tools in DCIMs allow for more productive staff management and reduce redundancies in daily operations.

Data visualization

Data visualization is an essential part of managing large amounts of data and understanding it. Integrated with the data center infrastructure through a DCIM system, visualization tools can access asset data easily and quickly.

Data visualization capabilities within DCIM systems allow you to effortlessly create native trend charts, reports, and even floor layouts of the physical components of the data center infrastructure through a centralized dashboard.

Physical asset management

DCIM systems are also able to keep track of the validity of physical resources, such as servers, racks, and even connected network components like switches and routers. This ensures the power chain is continuous and runs through all data centers as needed.

Through physical asset management, the troubleshooting and maintenance of physical components of the data center infrastructure is simplified and streamlined.

Next-gen DCIM

Traditional DCIM solutions are heavily reliant on IT staff response after detecting an error or anomaly in the data center’s infrastructure. This approach also often results in unplanned downtime with productivity and monetary repercussions.

Next-generation DCIM solutions use machine learning (ML) and real-time analysis in their monitoring and management processes. This enables IT teams to perform predictive maintenance, improving productivity and minimizing downtime.

“Next-gen DCIM delivers all the basics that traditional solutions offer but with the huge difference that the software can be hosted in the cloud, delivering functionality that isn’t available on-premises,” says Steve Beber, CEO, Assetspire.

“Machine learning capabilities render next-gen software solutions invaluable, giving almost mystical prescient powers to predict outages before they happen — empowering data center managers to react fast and solve issues before they grow into disasters.”

Benefits of DCIM

The importance of using suitable DCIM software increases with the size of the data center infrastructure and network. Implemented properly, DCIM solutions and services come with various benefits for businesses and organizations, such as:

• Improving visibility into physical infrastructure
• Minimizing unplanned downtime
• Increasing infrastructure productivity
• Reducing the workload on IT staff
• Reducing administrative redundancies
• Enableing remote management of infrastructure

“Next-generation DCIM, especially, can help with proactive incident management by enabling facility managers to gain insight into both the current and future state of their environments,” according to a post at Schneider Electric.

“For both local and distributed sites, they can get complete visibility and real-time recommendations on how to proactively handle any incidents.”

DCIM use cases

There are numerous ways DCIM solutions and services from different providers can be implemented to help businesses and organizations better manage their data center infrastructures.

Vodafone

Vodafone is a multinational telecommunications company that works primarily with customers in Africa, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. Based in Berkshire, England, it is used by customers worldwide.

Vodafone was looking to become more sustainable and reduce the carbon footprint of its numerous data centers. It sought powerful yet reliable DCIM software to boost its energy consumption efficiency. 

Working with Sunbird, Vodafone used its DCIM software to measure, document, and plan its data centers’ operations with sustainability in mind. It also utilized its renewable energy resources for rack and server cooling solutions.

“We’re building solar power farms and wind turbines, implementing free air cooling and cold aisle containment, and raising the minimum cold aisle temperature to save a lot of power,” says Andrew Marsh, senior manager for infrastructure and data centers, Vodafone.

“We’re placing temperature sensors at the top, middle, and bottom of every rack. We’re using Sunbird to measure the individual temperatures, so we can see the Delta T. That allows us to raise temperatures which saves us a large amount of money.”

With Sunbird, Vodafone now has more control over the energy consumption of its data centers, saving 75% of power, and the ability to monitor its data centers in real-time.

Beijing Subway

Beijing Subway is one of China’s oldest metro systems in Beijing and Tianjin. It has 40 control centers, 100 cabinets, and over 1,000 distribution frames.

The subway faced problems with achieving real-time connectivity across its numerous sites. Not only was this detrimental to operational control, but it also affected the safety of the subway passengers and workers.

Reaching out to RiT Tech, Beijing Subway utilized an optic fiber cable line for the subway system’s communication. This included more than 1,000 fiber distribution frames and over 20,000 intelligent ports.

“The value that RiT Tech and their DCIM software, XpedITe has brought to our operations is not only top-level technology and high-quality products, but the most important achievement is the impact it has had on our day-to-day provisioning and work orders,” says Ms. Zhao, CTO, Beijing Metro Network Control Center.

“Through the software, we can design and simulate all connectivity tasks that are integrated with our intelligent hardware, avoiding human error and making our operations safe and efficient.”

Working with RiT Tech, Beijing Subway was able to achieve 100% accurate real-time documentation, reduced data center downtime, and improved resource allocation efficiency.

The ING Group

The ING Group is a multinational financial services and banking corporation based in the Netherlands. It primarily works with businesses in retail banking, investment banking, private banking, and wholesale banking.

ING started looking for a new DCIM software solution when its previous one was at the end of its life. Looking to improve its ITIL processes and reduce its reliance on spreadsheets, it reached out to Nlyte Software.

“Of all the great people we worked with at Nlyte, their deployment and data migration team stood out the most,” says the data center team at ING.

Working with Nlyte, ING gained a 100% accurate and complete inventory of its assets. Also, the data center team anticipates a reduction in workloads thanks to automation.

DCIM providers

Some of the leading providers of DCIM solutions and services in the market include:

• Graphical Networks
• Device42
• Solarwinds
• UnityOneCloud
• Delta Electronics
• CommScope
• Huawei
• Panduit
• Siemens AG
• Sunbird Software