Automated excellence

Every data center encompasses thousands of locations where failures or inefficiencies can multiply, but ABB Decathlon® automatically helps prevent issues from arising by monitoring each of these points, down to individual CPUs. One of the market’s most advanced data center infrastructure management products, Decathlon collects, normalizes, records and analyzes large amounts of data from both IT and facility systems.

Decathlon helps data centers achieve multiple goals in an integrated fashion. For the IT engineer, Decathlon can manage server location, configuration and application load. For the facilities manager, it can control and monitor electrical and mechanical equipment. It enables a senior manager to compare data centers and employ business intelligence. All this information is presented in a single operational environment through a single pane of glass, so IT and facility personnel can work together effectively by sharing a “single truth.”

Decathlon helps data centers keep cool by monitoring CPU temperatures from each server and controlling the environment correspondingly. It analyzes power quality events, such as spikes; manages breakers for load shedding or alarming; and provides power-quality visualization from grid to motherboard. It also manages assets and capacity, automatically allocating a new server to an optimal rack and position.

A particularly intelligent feature is Decathlon’s ability to monitor CPU utilization across servers or multiple data centers, shifting loads among server banks or among data centers to save energy or take advantage of energy price differentials.

Decathlon can monitor equipment health, as well, issuing a maintenance work order even before an alarm occurs. Additionally, it can help data centers minimize their peak demand or make revenue by selling power from standby generators back to the grid.

Providing early warning of power issues and monitoring assets, Decathlon can prevent outages through condition-based maintenance. Decathlon is a modular system, and additional application modules can be added easily to core installations.

Jim Shanahan

Author of the article

Automated excellence

Blog

Automated excellence

Download the paper here

Information and resources

Select region / language