When it comes to management, one of the things I ask customers is what management tools they use.  There's always a laundry list, some open-source (like Nagios) and some from large software vendors (like Tivoli).  These IT management tools are used to get a handle on computing, storage, networking, and applications -- 4 of the primary assets in a data center.  But when I ask what they use for energy management, there's usually a blank stare.  Energy, as you may have guessed, is the fifth major asset.  As with any of these assets, if you run out of capacity, your applications go down.  If you don't manage them proactively, your performance suffers.  Energy is no different.  And with pressure to reduce cost, improve performance, plan for increased or decreased capacity, or mitigate potential risks, management tools are the key to accomplishing these tasks. 

Awareness of the importance of energy in the data center has grown dramatically in the last few years.  And due to the importance of energy in business continutity and contribution to data center operating costs, it is logical that it is time to get a handle on energy in 2010.

Gartner also released their prognostications for 2010, with a scary title "Critical Issues Facing Data Centre Managers will worsen in 2010."  And the entire discussion is about energy, the last unknown and unmanaged frontier in the data center.  This section is particularly relevant:

Energy management can be effective only through advanced monitoring,
modelling and measuring techniques and processes. Metrics form the
bedrock for internal cost and efficiency programmes and Gartner urges
datacentre managers and IT organisations to make this area a high
priority, which will be essential for the adoption of so many new
technologies and adherence to government policies.

This week, Gartner hosts their 28th annual data center conference in Las Vegas.  Sentilla's CEO Bob Davis and VP Business Development Eddie White will be there, so stop by and talk to us about the real energy management issues that the data center faces.