Networked Enterprise Featured Article

Data centers are now as essential as the electrical grid or the roads we travel on. Everything you access on your smartphone, computer and even TV requires the information stored in data centers across the country and around the world. This has increased the level of complexity in managing these centers as our dependence on digital technology continues to grow. Altima Technologies, the leading provider of innovative data center management solutions, has released the latest version of its Windows-based NetZoom for IT and facility asset management in small data centers, server rooms, and data closets.

With NetZoom 15 network and data center professionals will be able to design, diagram and manage all of their IT asset infrastructure on demand automatically to get a more accurate view of their operations.

"NetZoom 15 makes it easier than ever for individuals to create high grade professional quality rack elevations with full connectivity and data center floor layouts with drill down capabilities to the rack level while taking advantage of built-in native features in Microsoft (News - Alert) Visio 2013 or Visio 2010," said Alan Schenwar, General Manager of Altima Technologies.

According to the company, the upgrade to version 15 has dozens of new asset management and productivity features including, auto diagramming, auto generated rack elevations, port-to-port connectivity, powerful device and rack configuration, reporting, and importing and exporting of asset information.

Some of the biggest features and improvement Altima highlighted are:

• Complete modeling of data centers and racks,
• Accurate port-to-port connectivity and connectivity reporting,
• Enhanced reporting capabilities and report templates,
• Automatically created rack elevations with connectivity and floor layouts with drill down,
• Enhanced chassis and rack configuration capabilities to accommodate multi-slot cards and non-conventionally mounted devices, and
• Population of device asset information through auto discovery of devices or importing from Microsoft Excel spreadsheets or Visio diagrams.

The data in NetZoom can be accessed by migrating the information to NetZoomDC, the company’s Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software, to manage any additional IT and facility assets.

According to Panduit, a leading global provider of next-generation industrial automation infrastructure solutions, “For most data centers approximately 70 percent of the operating budget is spent on maintaining existing infrastructure while only 30 percent is for innovations aligned to your business goals. Your challenge is to reverse that allocation and transform your data center into a strategic business asset.”

The effective operations of data centers requires a wide range of solutions, and as Panduit stated, it requires a lot of time spend on maintaining the existing infrastructure. With the version 15 of NetZoom, Altima Technologies looks to simplify the process and make it more efficient.

NetZoom 15 is now available, with current subscribers eligible for a free upgrade.