ABB pilots automation solution for the next generation of data centers

July 16, 2019

New ABB Ability Data Center Automation offering is being piloted with one of the fastest growing colocation data center providers and aims to meet challenges faced by the rapid growth of data centers.

Optimization of data center performance, increased tenant retention, agile communications between operations and upper management, and reduced costs are just some of the benefits available to a leading colocation data center provider as they pilot a world exclusive cloud solution from ABB.

With its unique holistic data center approach the solution provides a detailed insight into how multiple data centers and devices are performing. By bringing all the information into one place, it offers a composite and consolidated view of overall data center performance both locally and globally which enables in-depth analysis and better strategic decisions.

A strong differentiating factor of the new solution is the increased accessibility provided by the unique state-of-the-art dashboards that display the data in a clear and comprehensive way. The insights result in better operational management providing optimization of operations and business.

“This is an exciting new ABB AbilityTM Data Center Automation solution and it is a world first. A leading colocation data center provider in Singapore was the obvious choice with whom to work not just on the project pilot but also as a partner in development,” said Madhav Kalia, global business manager, Data Center Automation of ABB Control Technologies. “Their world vision and leading market position meant that they were able to offer a very valuable, constructive contribution, including helping us to define the minimum viable product (MVP) requirements.”

One of the most important challenges faced by businesses today is how to mitigate the impact of data centers on the environment. ABB’s new solution enables power, cooling and environmental properties of data centers to be viewed and monitored enabling the identification of opportunities for improvement. The increased exposure of performance data to a wider audience including upper management, allows strategic operational decisions to be made based on accurate and up-to-date information.

By enabling KPI and metrics to be benchmarked and monitored, the new solution also provides insights into how these are changing over time which enables the verification of effectiveness of performance improvements and optimizations allowing any issues to be resolved.

Colocation data centers need to attract new tenants and retaining existing tenants. By allowing the asset allocation and performance of tenants to be evaluated, ABB’s new solution means that better Service Level Agreement management can be achieved which in turn lead to more competitive offerings and pricing for tenants.

The new ABB AbilityTM Data Center Automation cloud solution will be made available in due course. Future releases will provide additional applications that analyze the data and provide more insight for predictive maintenance and optimization. ABB AbilityTM is the company’s unified, cross-industry digital offering which includes more than 210 industrial internet solutions and an industrial internet technology platform and cloud infrastructure. Drawing on insights across 20 plus industries and more than 40 years of experience in digital technology, ABB Ability™ helps customers to develop new processes and advance existing ones by providing insights and optimizing planning and controls for real-time operations. The results can then be fed into control systems like ABB Ability™ System 800xA to improve key performance metrics of plants and assets. 

With 70 million connected devices, 70,000 digital control systems and 6,000 enterprise software solutions, ABB is a trusted leader in creating digital solutions for customers in the industrial space.

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