Media and content providers have their hands full in today's digital age. Competition is fierce and business models are always changing as a result of emerging technologies and new service offerings. On top of that, companies such as Netflix and Amazon are changing the competitive landscape by producing their own content. In this ever-changing landscape, nothing can be left up to chance. Every decision must be deliberate, and every link in the chain must be strong. This includes one of the most important links of all: the data center.

Any issue that occurs in a media or content provider's data center can be damaging to businesses in several ways. Therefore, it's imperative that these organizations have the resources to ensure their facilities are optimized for functionality. Data center infrastructure management (DCIM) helps achieve this in several key ways:

1. Uptime for viewers and users

Power distribution, temperature, humidity and the current health of data center equipment such as servers and cooling components are just some of the vital metrics that data center managers rely on to keep their facilities efficient and operational. However, this involves collecting, sorting and analyzing thousands of data sets every minute of every day.

If downtime occurs as a result of equipment overheating, a failure of the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or something else, it could mean that media and content consumers miss their favorite shows. 

With the up-to-the-second data analytics capabilities of DCIM, media providers – or cloud vendors that support media providers – can more effectively oversee the entire data center facility. This makes it easier to catch potential problems early, and to prevent failures of critical equipment.

A data center outage can leave paying customers with nothing to watch.

Consumers are only part of the revenue model. Many media and content providers also rely heavily on ad spend. An example is Comcast, which launched Watchable, a free video streaming platform that relies entirely on ad venue. Immediately following the release, Verizon launched go90 which is also free for users and is funded by an ad-revenue model.

The good news is that if something does go wrong in the data center and customers are unable to access the service, they might be more lenient about it because they're not paying for the service. The bad news, however, is that advertisers might not be so forgiving.

This just goes to show that regardless of the business model, data center downtime risks eating into the bottom line. The only way to prevent this from happening is to have a complete visualization of the entire data center facility at any given moment. Should certain metrics begin to surpass optimal levels, data center managers need to know about it right away. 

2. Lowering operational costs

It takes a lot of money to run a business, and a sizable chunk of these expenses are often eaten up in the data center. According to the National Resource Defense Council, American businesses spend a collective average of $13 billion paying for data center power. Operational inefficiencies in the data center only inflate OPEX, which shrinks profit margins. 

Once again, DCIM can help address these problems by mapping electricity consumption. The ability to see how much power is being consumed by equipment can help data center managers achieve greater energy efficiency.

Servers that are using up unnecessary energy can be identified, as can overworked equipment that may be at risk of causing a circuit overload. Likewise, temperature and humidity visualizations can determine where cool air is escaping, identify hot spots and serve as a guide for improving cooling and airflow within a facility. This level of resource efficiency is vital for effective business management. 

3. Mapping future growth

The idea of increasing the customer base is enticing to any media provider. More paid subscribers means additional revenue. Alternatively, more unpaid subscribers translates to ad revenue. The only problem is that an increase traffic also puts more strain on the data center.

Facility managers must first be able to identify the tipping point, and then find ways to add new equipment to meet growing demands. This is difficult because there are so many interdependencies in a data center. More equipment means more heat, and more heat means more energy needed to keep temperatures stable. 

The good news is that Geist DCIM helps manage all of the intricacies and dependencies in the data center. With capacity planning and predictive modeling tools, management can plan for growth and preempt outcomes of expansion down to degrees and watts. This takes the guesswork out of growth for media providers, and in such a competitive space, that can make all the difference.