With the rapid development of information technologies such as cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, the scale of the global data center market continues to expand. In 2022, the scale of the global data center market has expanded to US$74.65 billion, a year-on-year growth rate of 9.9%, and the growth rate has remained at a good level of about 10% in the past five years. In 2023, the scale of the global data center market is about US$82.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.04%. It is also predicted that the scale of the global data center market will reach US$90.4 billion in 2024. The hyperscale data center market is also growing, with a market size of US$80.2 billion in 2024 and is expected to increase to US$935 billion by 2032.
Promoted by national policies such as new infrastructure, digital transformation and the vision and goals of Digital China, the scale of my country's data center market continues to grow at a high speed. In 2022, the scale of my country's data center market has grown to 190.07 billion yuan, with a five-year compound growth rate of nearly 30%. In 2023, the scale of China's data center market is about 240.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.68%, and it is predicted that it will reach 304.8 billion yuan in 2024. In addition, the scale of data center racks in use is also growing steadily. As of August 2023, the total scale of data center racks in use in my country exceeds 7.6 million standard racks, and the total computing power reaches 1.97 trillion floating-point operations per second, ranking second in the world.
The rapid growth of the data center market has given rise to management challenges
At the same time, data center asset management faces many challenges, mainly including the following aspects:
Asset protection and security issues: Data centers are full of server racks, routers, modems, and servers, which are all high-value and need to be protected from theft or damage, which is usually managed through technology-based or manual security measures, but these measures can be costly and have limited effectiveness.
Inventory management complexity: There are many devices in the data center, and tracking inventory and its status (such as location, maintenance records, etc.) is a tedious and time-consuming task that requires a lot of manpower and material resources.
Environmental monitoring challenges: Data centers are often located in specific locations within a large area, and it is challenging to identify high-temperature locations, and temperature can have a significant impact on equipment health.
Lack of real-time performance: Traditional asset management methods often lack real-time performance and cannot reflect the status and location changes of assets in a timely manner, which may lead to delayed management decisions.
In addition, data centers may deploy multiple technologies and systems. It is a complicated process to integrate these technologies into a unified platform for management. Whether it is hiring workers to track or purchasing expensive data center infrastructure management (DCIM) software, it increases the operating costs of data centers.
RFID solutions reshape data center asset management
Recently, EPC Solutions Taiwan launched a new DCIM system, which has brought revolutionary changes to data center management with its innovative RFID technology and powerful functions. The DCIM solution includes internal software, as well as two boxes of hardware for each IT asset rack. One box contains the reader, and the other includes cable antennas, adapters, and metal tags. Users can order any number of readers, antennas, and tags. Effectively solve the challenges faced by data center asset management, as follows:
Anti-theft and asset tracking: The system uses UHF RFID technology to track the status of IT assets in the data center and digitally record the movement and maintenance of assets such as servers and routers. The exit portal uses fixed readers and antennas to detect tagged items. If someone attempts to remove an asset, a fixed reader antenna at the exit reads the tag, triggers the alarm system, and creates a record and time stamp of the item’s removal, effectively preventing theft and tracking assets.
Low-cost and easy-to-manage solution: EPC Solutions' DCIM solution is designed to be low-cost and easy to manage. Data center personnel can install the system in a short time, including UHF RFID readers, cable antennas, tags, etc.
Environmental monitoring and health management: The system includes environmental factor monitoring, using temperature and humidity RFID tags to capture sensor data and transmit this information when interrogated by the reader. This helps data center managers obtain real-time data about temperature or humidity to prevent equipment failure or damage.
Improve employee productivity and save costs: The advantages of the system are time saving, employee productivity and cost savings. Employees no longer need to be on-site to determine what assets are in the data center and what spaces and environments are available.
Management reports and trend analysis: The system can create management reports to analyze overall trends, racks and even specific ports, helping data center managers better understand asset conditions and operations.
Through these methods, EPC Solutions Taiwan's DCIM system provides a comprehensive and efficient solution for data center asset management, effectively addressing the many challenges faced by data center asset management. It is worth mentioning that EPC Solutions is developing a cloud version of the system to provide users with more convenient and flexible services. The technology has been tested and funded by Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and is expected to be officially released for commercial use in July 2025.
The DCIM system launched by EPC Solutions Taiwan brings a new solution to data center management. It uses RFID technology to achieve real-time tracking and environmental monitoring of assets, improves the accuracy and efficiency of asset management, and reduces management costs. With the commercial release of the system, it is expected to bring a more intelligent and efficient future to data center management.
This paper is from Ulink Media, Shenzhen, China, the organizer of IOTE EXPO (IoT Expo in China)
