Integration
Unite has a unique and unrivalled capability to provide clients with a full suite of tailored integrated solutions for all of their data centre infrastructure needs which can meet the requirements of each associated group, that of Operations, Facilities, Security, Compliance, Financial and Legal.
Integration, from a Unite perspective, is concerned with aligning technology and data in line with the business needs and processes, and in providing integrated constituent technologies which utilise industry standard protocols and database platforms such as SNMP, ODBC, MS SQL and LDAP, for us to help facilitate organisations in creating a relationship between the users and the data.
In industries where business practices, policies and procedures are constantly under review to ensure maximum up-time and minimised risk, we at Unite ensure that our deliverable is closely aligned to meet the needs of our clients, in accordance with best practices, and as a result are proud to be able to operate within the world’s most prestigious mega data centres and across the majority of market verticals.
We recognise the importance of data centre operational inefficiencies and the link to power efficiency and environmental issues and ultimately look to decrease costs and business risk by providing a range of constituent technologies, which make up the ‘integral whole’. These constituent technologies can be segmented into six categories:
Hardware Management
Via our integrated solutions, Unite provides a secure gateway connecting users to the data centre hardware. Authority is easily granted and revoked, facilitating lights out processes and reducing the need for physical visits.
Operationally Unite provide the tools to manage hardware within a data centre. We offer integration across a wide range of vendor independent hardware management solutions, minimising risk and downtime, by presenting users with common interfaces via a variety of secure hardware management tools, ranging from generic software and model specific on-board management cards, to KVM, serial terminal servers and the remote control of the power ports, in order to achieve centralised policy and security management of remote access to servers essential to ensuring business continuity.
Power & Environmental Monitoring
Our integrated solutions encompass both local and remote power and environmental monitoring and control, including third party monitored or ‘dumb’ power strips, often as part of a retrofit solution, direct fed hardware, such as storage and network components, multi-phase hardware and ‘non-invasive’ monitoring solutions. We are also able to protect clients’ infrastructure at the physical level helping deliver high availability of networks, predominately focussing on levels and usage of power within the data centre enclosure,
temperature and humidity at key points within the cabinet and adjacent areas, security and access control and local air movement to ensure local cooling and heat removal.
Unite is able to bring these typically non-networked components within reach for operations and facilities by providing clients with network capability and making them SNMP compliant. Combining this remote monitoring with control of outputs and power management, from basic UPS monitoring through to remote power control at individual outlet level gives network managers pro-active local and global control of their network environment.
Security Solutions
Cabinet security solutions, provided by Unite, include the alarming and alerting of door open and close status, physical locking and unlocking of doors via a combination of local and remote methods, and providing early warning alerts by various shock and vibration sensors. In addition to this we can provide integration of networked CCTV cameras, enabling video records to be created according to specific events, i.e. motion detection within an aisle. Other integrated cabinet security solutions range from automated activation of fan trays to protect the servers following a rise in local temperatures, to the activation of beacons and alarms indicating whether doors have been opened and, or remain open.
Management Information
Our integrated solutions not only provide operational support but are also implemented due to our ability to collect, store and report on highly accurate “snapshot value” data, which has enabled us to offer many other value added integration opportunities ranging from integration with management platforms such as HPOpenview, BMC Patrol and IBM Tivoli, to reporting applications such as Crystal Reports and Business Objects. Our solution also integrates with infrastructure management solutions such as ITRACS and RIT, which allow for capacity planning on mission critical services.
Database Services
As part of our monitoring and alerting solutions we provide real-time alerting of changes, scheduled polling and data capture, polling all sensors within a specified time period, to collate a highly detailed database of values enabling trend analysis, capacity planning, reporting, risk analysis and performance benchmarking.
Directory Services
We have the ability to integrate our products into clients existing directory structures, which is a key stage in user acceptance, avoiding the need for the administration of separate systems.
Below shows a summary of Unites product integration capabilities, illustrating the relationship which exists
between the data and constituent technologies.
