2015 Data Center 100: 20 Data Center Tool Providers

Center 100: 20 Data Center Tool Providers

While it is the hardware and software infrastructure that provide a base on which data centers are built, it is a host of tools that provide the keys to making data centers run efficiently and serve both internal and external customers.

Some tools monitor data center functions to ensure cooling, power consumption, and other operations are in line with expectations. Other tools warn of potential problems and may offer recommendations to fix those problems or, increasingly, automatically make the required fixes.

While data center infrastructure management, or DCIM, software is among the most common tools available for running data centers, its complexity can be daunting for some customers. However, the industry offers a wide range of simpler technologies that also do an excellent job of monitoring and managing data centers, making this a great business area for solution providers.

Here are the data center tool providers to make this year's Data Center 100 list.

1E

New York

Nick Milne-Home

President, COO, North America

1E helps improve data center operations with technology to identify and eliminate unused IT equipment and software licenses, with a focus on Windows migration. Its solutions help measure, monitor and increase server efficiency; manage PC power use; and reclaim and recycle software licenses.

BMC Software

Houston

Robert Beauchamp

President, Chairman, CEO

Since going private in 2013 in a $6.9 billion deal, BMC has been expanding its ability to simplify and automate IT processes, business services, and applications to the cloud with new partnerships with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, and significantly expanded its mainframe management solutions.

CA Technologies

New York

Mike Gregoire

CEO

CA continues to develop IT management software and solutions for customers across mainframe and physical to virtual and cloud environments, but not for storage anymore since its 2014 decision to spin its storage business out in a separate company with the Arcserve moniker.

CommScope/iTracs

Hickory, N.C.

Marvin (Eddie) Edwards

President, CEO

CommScope, which became a major data center business player thanks to acquisitions in 2013 of DCIM developer iTracs and LED lighting and sensor network developer Redwood Systems, used 2014 to expand its DCIM offerings and introduced its modular DataCenter On Demand solution.

Device42

New Haven, Conn.

Raj Jalan

Founder, CEO

Device42 looks to solve data center management issues with software to automatically provide up-to-date configuration and resource information, find and document issues, manage risks, centralize security, and do autodiscovery all via a REST API.

eG Innovations

Iselin, N.J.

Srinivas Ramanathan

President, CEO

eG Innovations' intelligent performance management solutions help find and resolve service performance issues in virtual, cloud and physical infrastructures. The company in 2014 introduced a unified Citrix Xen performance management dashboard for Citrix as well as end-to-end performance management for Oracle Linux and Oracle VM.

Geist

Lincoln, Neb.

Matt Lane

President, DCIM Division

Geist manufactures intelligent hardware and software for data center power, cooling, monitoring and management. The company's solutions include designing efficient cooling systems and end-to-end DCIM integration via its Environet DCIM solution. Geist last year also declared support for Open Compute and Open CloudServer.

Kaseya/Zyrion

Boston

Yogesh Gupta

President, CEO

Kaseya provides both centralized and remote management and policy-based automation of data center resources for MSPs. The company in 2014 introduced two major releases of its management software, and added a new security focus with the acquisition of security and authentication software developer Scorpion Software.

Modius

San Francisco

Craig Compiano

President, CEO

Modius' OpenData DCIM software includes solutions to monitor, analyze and manage a data center's mechanical electrical plant, rack, cooling, power distribution and server infrastructure. OpenData was expanded in 2014 with an Asset Management Module to collect data specific to each asset across multiple facilities.

Nlyte Software

San Mateo, Calif.

Doug Sabella

President, CEO

Nlyte Software put a big emphasis on SaaS in virtualized environments and on IT service management capabilities with its DCIM software in 2014. A new framework for its DCIM software includes ITSM connectors for popular third-party applications to quickly update management capabilities.

Onset Computer

Bourne, Mass.

Justin Testa

President

Data logger supplier Onset Computer, whose flagship line of battery-powered HOBO data logger products measure and record data center temperature, humidity, light, energy and other parameters, expanded its line in 2014 with new low-cost water level loggers and new plug load data loggers.

Panduit

Tinley Park, Ill.

Tom Donovan

President

Panduit, whose Unified Physical Infrastructure solutions integrate segregated data centers systems such as communications, computing, control, power and security into a single unified infrastructure, added wireless monitoring and cooling optimization technologies to its line with the 2014 acquisition of SynapSense.

Rackwise

Folsom, Calif.

Guy Archbold

Chairman, President, CEO

Rackwise's DCIM X Solutions, a DCIM application for managing data center components such as power, cooling, space, servers, networks and cables, in 2014 got a boost in federal data centers thanks to a new Unisys relationship. The company in 2014 also closed a $3 million funding round.

Raritan

Somerset, N.J.

Ching-I Hsu

Founder, CEO

Raritan's solutions for improving data center efficiency with power management, infrastructure management, KVM, DCIM and other intelligent applications, grew in 2014 with the ability to apply DCIM to monitor data center white spaces and critical facilities systems and new interactive data center maps.

RF Code

Austin, Texas

Ed Healy

CEO

RF Code develops active RFID hardware and management software to provide accurate and actionable information about the location and state of physical data center assets to help in decision making. Its RFID sensors can be stand-alone or integrated in other equipment.

Sentilla

Redwood City, Calif.

Mike Kaul

CEO

Sentilla uses a ’manager of managers’ approach to provide granular insight into all physical and virtual IT systems and facilities to combine continuous performance analysis with cost management and allow data centers to do capacity management and plannnig, all with no meters or agents.

SevOne

Wilmington, Del.

Jack Sweeney

CEO

SevOne builds scalable appliances that monitor the performance of networks, applications, servers and storage, and can present the results from billions of performance metrics per day on a unified console. The company's technology monitors more than 100 million objects worldwide.

Sightline Systems

Fairfax, Va.

Brandon Witte

President, CEO

Sightline's technology uses analytics, root-cause analysis and correlation of data from multiple sources including IT systems, applications, and storage to provide real-time operations intelligence for data center users to over comprehensive insights into computer systems and their interdependencies.

TSO Logic

Vancouver, B.C.

Aaron Rallo

Founder, CEO

TSO Logic targets data center power costs with a lightweight, application-aware power management software which sits on a single server. The company in 2014 unveiled a new widget-style dashboard to provide detailed insight into application performance, power use and operating costs.

Viligent

Oakland, Calif.

Dave Hudson

CEO

Vigilent's intelligent energy management systems for data centers was recently enhanced with a new active cooling capacity planning module for the Vigilent DCIM Toolkit that provides information, room by room or data center-wide, on available and stranded cooling capacity. Vigilent partners with companies like Electric Environments and Schneider Electric on dynamic cooling technology.