A data center is a facility regrouping physical servers for one or more companies. Valuable for industries, it’s the perfect way to store Data for Business matters. Is Manual server inventory time consuming? Tiring for your teams? Unorganised? We have developed a RFID solution that would require you less time and human resources. Find out how IoT can transform data center management and insight.
What is a Data Center ?
A data center is a place composed of various computer systems:
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Servers: high-performance computers with large storage capacity;
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Routers: devices that direct data through a network;
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Switches: devices that turn on or off the electrical current in a circuit;
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Cables: several kilometers of cable to connect components;
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Hard disks...
Stacked servers form narrow corridors for the staff movement: these are the storage bays. The surface area of this type of installation varies greatly. The largest data center in the world is located in China, covering 715,000 m².
Good to know : Key figures
With the constant growth of the web industry, there are now millions¹ of data centers around the world, hosting billions of gigabytes of data.
A company's data center stores computer data relating to its business. Employees have access to the stored data via their Internet connection or via the internal network. Employees can view incoming data (generated by them) and outgoing data (generated by other users).
The stakes are high for companies, as this data is precious to their business and often confidential (websites, databases, documents, e-mail, etc.).
The entry and exit of people on storage sites must also be carefully controlled.
The challenges of storage centers are therefore of different kinds:
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Breakdowns: equipment or power outages that need to be resolved quickly to avoid data loss.
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Security: the information stored is confidential and sensitive. The Data Center must be protected physically (alarms, secure doors, cameras, etc.) and digitally (firewall).
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Heat: Constant operation generates a lot of heat that needs to be controlled, as overheating is very bad for IT equipment.
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Energy consumption: an environmental issue, the aim is to favour green energy as much as possible because these installations are energy intensive.
A data center can be exclusive, created by the company that uses it (on-premise) or provided by a service provider (access via a Cloud). The operation of the data center is continuous.
UBI Solutions' RFID solution for data centers: principle and operation
Radio Frequency Identification technology is being used by businesses to manage their complex IT systems.
Operating principle
Our solution consists of :
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RFID tags installed on the assets to be tracked or accounted for
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A mobile reader or PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) to retrieve the data
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UBI Cloud software analyzing this data through graphs or dashboards, compatible with Excel
This system works in two steps:
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Configuration of the RFID chips: Encoding of the tag (allocation of a series of characters) then association with an asset (a server in the case of the data center).
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Data collection: per bay or for a complete room, the operator uses his reader to retrieve the data from the tags. The chips transmit their identification information by radio frequency.
Use of RFID tags for inventory
Traditionally, the inventory of IT equipment is done manually: scanning the barcodes on each server one by one. This is a time-consuming and labour-intensive method. The risk of error is high.
Companies manage astronomical volumes of data on a daily basis (several million transactions recorded each day). The number of servers they need is therefore increasing. It is therefore important to optimise inventory operations, which are a regular part of a company's life.
The RFID chips offered by UBI Solutions bring great benefits to the inventory process:
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Time saving: the collection is done in a few seconds;
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Cost reduction ;
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Errors reduction;
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Less technical problems.
Inventory is faster, more reliable and accurate thanks to the IoT.
Data center transformation through IoT: our customer cases
Banque de France
The Banque de France is an independent institution that brings together the European Central Bank and the national central banks of the euro area. It is responsible for :
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Implementing a single monetary policy
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Ensuring the proper functioning of the payment system
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Issuing coins and banknotes
This institution requires a large number of computer servers to store its data. Among the maintenance operations required for this complex information system is the regular inventory of the servers. Such an operation is time-consuming because of the quantity of servers.
It also presents risks:
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Handling by operators can damage equipment;
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Cables can be disconnected, which can affect the operation of the system.
The solution proposed by UBI Solutions enables the Banque de France to carry out the inventory of its servers automatically. The operator enters the room to be inventoried and collects the information transmitted by the RFID chips on the detector terminal.
Orange
The French telecom company has a growing need for data storage for individuals and businesses. Orange's Normandy data center is designed to connect into a network of more than 50 data centers worldwide. UBI Solutions deployed an RFID technology solution to move from a manual inventory to an automated solution. The Orange teams are now able to analyze any stock discrepancies during the RFID scan thanks to the exported file. The company has seen a number of changes since the solution was implemented: rack inventories are more regular, faster and more reliable.
For both of our clients, RFID technology has enabled them to consolidate the knowledge and management of their data centers.
The three key points to remember:
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Data centers contain valuable and confidential business information. Ensuring their operation and security is imperative, which is why regular inventories are carried out.
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RFID tags are attached to each server. By approaching the reader to a rack or room, all the chips send their identification information.
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Thanks to the RFID solution, the time needed to collect data for inventory has been reduced from several hours to a few seconds for our customers !
From the smallest to the largest, all data centers can use the IoT to conduct server inventories. The results will be faster and more reliable: inventory becomes less expensive. This technology has also proven its worth in large companies for asset tracking: furniture, PCs, printers... RFID is not only used for inventories! Discover, on our website, its application in industrial laundries and hospitals.
https://www.futura-sciences.com/tech/definitions/informatique-data-center-15675/
https://www.lebigdata.fr/grands-data-centers#China_Mobile
