A Customer Success
from the Experts in
Business-Critical ContinuityTM.
Avocent® Success Story: Duke University
Enhancing Cross-Campus IT Service Delivery with DCIM
Home of the Blue Devils, Duke University has about 13,000 undergraduate and
graduate students and a world-class faculty helping to expand the frontiers
of knowledge. Although younger than most other prestigious U.S. research
universities, Duke University consistently ranks among the very best. Its graduate
and professional schools—in business, divinity, engineering, the environment, law,
medicine, nursing and public policy—are among the leaders in their fields.
As with an increasing number of leading universities, Duke University’s ability to
provide a world-class teaching, research and learning environment has become
tightly integrated with its ability to deliver IT services. By taking advantage of data
center infrastructure management (DCIM) tools from Emerson Network Power’s
Avocent business, Duke University continues to augment its capacity to deliver
reliable and available IT services to its educators, researchers, staff and students
across its campus.
Secure Remote Management and Access
Company
Duke University
Location
Durham, North Carolina, USA
Type of Business
Education
Business Needs
Remote data center management that
enables the secure, cost-effective and
reliable delivery of essential IT services
across the campus
Solution
Avocent® DSView™ management software
Avocent® Universal Management Gateway
Business Benefits
• Significantly reduces time and money
spent traveling to and from the data
center by enabling 95 percent of all its
management and access to be handled
remotely
• Avoids critical service outages through
proactive management and reduced
physical access to the data center
• Simplifies data center management by
consolidating management into a single
Web console
• Lowers cooling and power consumption
costs by delivering real-time data
collection and reporting
• Provides a solid foundation for
development and expansion of the
data center into a holistic data center
management infrastructure
For Duke University, the IT and data center infrastructure is an ever-changing,
dynamic environment. Whether it’s to increase bandwidth, manage power
consumption, add more racks, monitor critical services or make service changes, one
of the key roles for the data center team at Duke University is to stay a step ahead
of the needs of its customers. The Avocent DSViewTM management software makes
that proactive management easier than ever before.
“As I look at the direction that the Avocent business is moving with
its solutions such as the Avocent DSView management software,
the Avocent® Universal Management Gateway appliance and the
TrellisTM platform, it’s positioning itself to provide us even greater
value in the future. The Avocent business is essential to our ability
to deliver reliable, available IT services to our customers across the
campus.”
– Carl McMillon, Director of Data Center Services, Duke University
“Gone are the days when everybody on the server team needs to have
unencumbered physical access to the data center,” says Carl McMillon, Director
of Data Center Services at Duke University. “When we kicked off the building of
our data center in 2007, the Avocent DSView software played a critical part in our
strategy for remote support and management. As we evaluated various solutions,
we really felt like the Avocent DSView software provided us the best functionality in
terms of meeting our support requirements. It really worked for us.”
A Customer Success
from the Experts in
Business-Critical ContinuityTM.
Before deploying the Avocent® DSView™ software, Duke University had
a mix of console management solutions. This Avocent solution enabled
the data center team to consolidate management with the Avocent
DSView web interface, as well as enable the delivery of secure remote
access and management. Five years later, 95 percent of all management
of and access to Duke University’s data center is handled remotely via
the Avocent DSView software.
“Reducing the number of people who have the need or ability to enter
the data center is an important part of reducing critical service outages
caused by human error,” says McMillon. “But it’s also a more effective
use of our people’s time. They no longer have to travel the four or five
miles to the data center, be escorted inside and then travel back to
their offices. With the Avocent DSView software, they can work from
wherever they sit.”
“We are very excited about [the latest version of] the Avocent DSView
management software and the capabilities that the Avocent business
has put in that solution,” McMillon says. “What it has done—integrating
DCIM functionality into the Avocent DSView software—has really given
us a solid management foundation with a greater opportunity to expand
and enjoy even more benefits now and down the road.”
and console management, as well as real-time data collection. It places
at our fingertips the data we need to make more informed decisions
in managing our infrastructure. These two solutions set us on the path
towards the Trellis™ platform and complete DCIM.”
The real-time data collection provided by the Avocent Universal
Management Gateway appliance is one of the most exciting aspects for
Duke University. “More and more data centers are tasked with showing
the cost benefit that they bring,” says McMillon. “The Avocent DSView
management software and the Avocent Universal Management Gateway
appliance combined give us real-time monitoring and reporting that
makes cost modeling and cost justification a reality. This tandem provides
hard data that will enable us to reduce our power bill and improve the
efficiency of HVAC operations. This toolset will allow us not only to
significantly reduce our overhead cost but also to show management
those savings.”
“The value of the footprint in the data center is extremely valuable,”
adds McMillon. “With the density that we are deploying equipment in
our racks, we need to be able to effectively manage it and know that it’s
cooling appropriately so we don’t impact service delivery. The Avocent
Universal Management Gateway appliance gives us that ability.”
Holistic DCIM
Greater Value, Greater Success
While Duke University sees the Avocent DSView software as a critical
stepping stone towards a further enhanced DCIM environment, it’s
counting on other key Avocent DCIM tools to help its data center to
become an even more holistically managed infrastructure. One such tool
is the Avocent® Universal Management Gateway appliance.
Not only does Duke University credit Avocent solutions as being welldeveloped and well-supported, but it sees Avocent DCIM solutions as
major technology enablers for the university as a whole. Furthermore, it
feels that the course and vision that Avocent business has embraced is
right on track for helping Duke University achieve its own DCIM goals.
The Avocent Universal Management Gateway appliance acts as the core
component of a DCIM framework, combining into a single appliance the
functions of KVM over IP, serial console over IP, rack power distribution
units, service processor and environmental management. When used in
combination with the Avocent DSView software, the solution provides
remote access and control to any device that can be controlled by any of
the consolidated functions.
“In this economy, it’s more important than ever that we act as good
stewards of the institution’s dollars,” says McMillon. “As I look at
the direction that the Avocent business is moving with its solutions
such as the Avocent DSView management software, the Avocent
Universal Management Gateway appliance and the Trellis platform, it’s
positioning itself to provide us even greater value in the future. The
Avocent business is essential to our ability to deliver reliable, available
IT services to our customers across the campus.”
“The Avocent Universal Management Gateway appliance gives us a
multi-purpose appliance in our racks,” McMillon says. “Its integration
with Avocent DSView software gives us remote access management
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Trellis are trademarks of Avocent Corporation. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. ©2012 Emerson Electric Co. All rights reserved.
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