Facebook Implements CA DCIM Solution in Global Data Centers

In a powerful new alliance, Facebook is using data center infrastructure management (DCIM) software from CA (News - Alert) Technologies to improve power efficiencies in its data centers throughout the world. The CA DCIM solution brings together millions of energy-related data points from both physical and IT resources to help reduce costs while delivering a seamless customer experience.

CA completed an extensive review process and completed a proof-of-concept for Facebook (News - Alert) as well as a pilot program in a 100,000-square-foot data center. CA was then able to contribute to a custom solution for the social networking giant based on their specific energy-related DCIM requirements. One of the most important requirements for the solution was that it be granular and scalable to meet the future demands of the rapidly growing company.

"Every single day, 728 million people actively use Facebook and expectations around quality of service, availability and reliability are extremely high," said Terrence Clark, senior vice president, Infrastructure Management, CA Technologies (News - Alert). "This places significant demands on the IT infrastructure with little room for error or costly inefficiencies.”

Clark added that it is crucial for Facebook’s IT as well as facilities teams to garner as much information as possible about their infrastructure performance from a power and cooling standpoint. Staffs need to know where potential problems might occur as well as stay on top of opportunities for cost savings.

Heightened emphasis on performance, cost savings and energy efficiencies among data centers is causing the DCIM market to skyrocket. A recent report from Navigant Research estimates that spending on DCIM software and services reached $663 million last year. That number is expected to blossom to $4.5 billion by 2020 as customers seek scalable, multi-tenant solutions to help monitor and manage data center sprawl.

The CA DCIM enables the Facebook team to bring energy-related data into their broader DCIM system and analyze all the data in aggregate, enabling potential cost savings as well as improvements in efficiency and customer experience. The offering provides a web-based portal for monitoring all power, cooling and environmental factors across facilities and IT systems as well as a way to manage the use of space and lifecycle of assets comprising the entire data center infrastructure.

"We are on a mission to help connect the world, and our IT infrastructure is core to our success," said Tom Furlong, VP, Infrastructure Data Centers, Facebook. "We are continually looking at ways to optimize our data centers and bringing all of our energy-related information together in one spot was a core requirement."