Axians has developed software called Dynamic Power Cloud Manager (DPCM) that enables its customers to gauge their real needs in terms of IT systems usage, and thus generates significant savings.
Axians has already deployed its solution with some sixty clients in sectors like aviation, automotive, telecoms and banking/insurance.
Computing systems continue to increase in efficiency. But the need for IT performance has grown more strongly still, creating considerable energy expenditure. To manage this often business-critical infrastructure, Axians, the VINCI Energies ICT brand, has designed a turnkey solution to reduce costs and optimise processes, known as Dynamic Power Cloud Manager (DPCM).
This tool has been constantly refined over more than 10 years and presents two major advantages: it automates most of the work managed by the IT department and offers extremely powerful monitoring.
“Effective monitoring allows us to know what the real needs are. Customers using this software gain the ability to run productive systems only without slowing down the rest. This allows energy and operational cost savings of up to 30%”, says Armin Heigl, CEO of Axians Infrastructure Software, who stresses that the initial cost of the software is generally recouped within a year thanks to the energy savings made.
Maximising savings
The monitoring provided by DPCM optimises system resources and thus maximises energy savings. “Let’s take the example of an IBM Power 9 (E950) system with all processors active but peak load never exceeding 25% over 365 days. Using IBM Elastic Capacity on Demand,* 50% of processor cores and memory can be deactivated, for a saving of 192 Watts per system. In a datacentre with at least eight servers, that adds up to 1,536 Watts. Not to mention that at least the same amount is saved in cooling power”, explains Christian Heitkamp, Software Product Manager at Axians. “These savings can be even greater where infrastructure is more significantly underused”.
In addition to the energy savings, DPCM also reduces running costs: “Deactivating processor cores automatically reduces your IT bill. You only pay for what you use. And that applies to numerous applications, from firmware updates to system recovery or verifying backups”, says Christian Heitkamp.
He continues, “This Software even allows savings in training. Personnel who don’t know IBM Power can quickly use and integrate DPCM X, our most recent version of the software. This is particularly beneficial now that IBM Power specialists are quite rare”.
Axians has already deployed this solution with some sixty clients in sectors like aviation, automotive, telecoms and banking/insurance. From the last of these for example, The German insurer Huk-Coburg appreciated the simple and intuitive management via the Linux/Unix platform, which freed up IT staff to concentrate on other, more urgent tasks.
* IBM Elastic Capacity on Demand is a solution that allows you to create temporary capacity by activating and deactivating processor cores and memory units to help meet the demands of your business peaks.
14/12/2022
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