ManageEngine has combined facilities and IT management in its integrated IT management software, IT360.

Available immediately, the latest version of IT360 reinforces its value as a data center infrastructure management (DCIM) solution by enabling real-time management of IT and facilities infrastructure components from a single console.

ManageEngine has also fortified IT360 with workflow automation, network change and configuration management, and a 3-D rack builder.

The IT360 news coincides with ManageEngine’s participation at the Gartner Data Center Conference being held December 9–12, 2013, at the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. A silver sponsor of the conference, ManageEngine is demonstrating IT360 in booth 515.

As business units put growing pressure on IT to deliver non-stop services, the data center plays an increasingly important role in the enterprise. Yet many data center admins struggle to manage their entire data center infrastructures, including IT and non-IT resources. Manual processes, multiple tools and consoles, inefficient power management and other challenges interfere with optimal management of the data center and underlying components. For these companies, an automated DCIM solution that supports IT and facilities management from a single console promises to eliminate many of the challenges to data center optimization.

“Energy management rivals IT management as one of the major challenges in running an efficient data center,” said Sridhar Iyengar, VP, product management at ManageEngine. “Typically, the IT management and facilities infrastructure management are separate worlds, which prevent data center operations teams from readily correlating facilities and IT events. Now, IT360 unifies the facilities and IT management in a unified DCIM console, so data center admins can easily see facilities and IT relationships and manage the complete data center proactively.”

IT360 has established a reputation as a trusted solution for managing an entire IT infrastructure from a single console. That reputation was validated in a report recently published by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), which positioned IT360 as a Value Leader in Application Discovery and Dependency Mapping, and recognized ManageEngine as a ‘Vendor On the Move’ for its advanced integrated CMDB capabilities.

Building on that reputation, ManageEngine has enhanced IT360 with the following new features:

- Passive device management lets data center operations teams monitor and control passive infrastructure components in the data center, including power, cooling control systems and other non-IT assets. The operations team can also remotely monitor and manage the passive devices as well as manage asset lifecycles. IT360 can also report on power usage effectiveness (PUE), data center infrastructure efficiency (DCiE) and KPI reports on energy efficiency across sites and regions.

- Workflow automation relies on more than 70 code-free workflow templates to automate routine tasks that data center admins would otherwise perform manually or write scripts to automate. With IT360, admins can create or modify automated workflows via an intuitive, drag-and-drop interface.

- Network change and configuration management lets data center admins configure multi-vendor network devices such as routers, switches and firewalls directly from IT360. In addition, IT360 can detect a configuration change in a network device, alert admins to the change and roll back the device to its previous, pre-change state.

- 3-D rack builder enables data center staff to create an exact, three-dimensional replica of their data center infrastructure on screen. Admins can easily build racks and check the health of associated network elements via the drag-and-drop console. Unlike isolated rack builders, the IT360 3-D rack builder displays the real-time status of each element, so admins can visually model the entire data center from the NOC screens.

In a recent survey by ManageEngine, approximately 46 percent of data center managers report they are tired of multiple data collecting nodes and are looking to consolidate nodes. Meanwhile, 32 percent report they lack the analytics needed to make informed decisions.

“True data center infrastructure management consolidates the administration of all hardware, software and environmental components across a support stack onto a single console interface,” noted Steve Brasen, managing research director at Enterprise Management Associates. “By extending the IT360 solution to deliver functionality that targets key requirements in facilities management, ManageEngine has achieved a milestone in enabling holistic infrastructure monitoring and management that will drive proactive IT optimizations, efficiencies and cost-reductions.”