'CIOs, It Is Time To Get On Top Of The Power Management Game'

Today, some of the biggest challenges of managing technology lie in managing a dynamically changing and complex IT and business environment. Business processes defined in enterprises today need to be extremely flexible and the systems that implement them need to be even more flexible. This makes a CIO’s role much tougher than it ever was, considering one has to keep up with the momentum, rather than be left behind. Today, I need to come up with quick and cost effective solutions – which, in itself are no easy task.

Then comes the question of scale, which is again, dependent on the dynamics of the business, and boils down to delivery. You still need to deliver those applications, and comply with various security guidelines, while simultaneously meeting performance levels. At the end of the day, the business runs on technology, so you have to be really meeting those objectives and KPIs, and this is quite a challenging situation anyway.

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An issue that is currently causing anyone dealing with technology much pain is its ability to consume mammoth amounts of power. The biggest problem today with power management is that you cannot monitor power consumption at the device level. And another important point here is that it’s more about your CAPEX and OPEX planning, because it’s not just about power but it’s about the management of your devices, planning and design, and there is a lot of cost involved in setting up a back-up UPS system, and making sure that the same is not underused. Underused UPS systems are known to give rise to problems as well.

In light of this chaotic situation, one can look at some new-generation servers, which allow us to manage power at a server level; however, with this kind of a plan you need to make sure you manage your computing power effectively. Secondly, your cooling also has to be designed better, and when you re-organise things, you realise how much you really need to go through in order to optimise, especially given shrinking IT budgets world over.

So I would ask CIOs to start looking at power management very seriously, because if one doesn’t manage this aspect well enough, management may very soon start breathing down your neck. I would urge all CIOs to establish a strict set of power metrics in all their arrangements with various vendors and while internally discussing deliverables within the business.

Rao is VP-IT at Infotech Enterprises.