Cyril Brignone

Real time asset tracking in the data center

The importance and difficultly of asset tracking make it worthy of attention. We focus on data centers consisting of vertical racks where each rack may accommodate a variety of equipment. We describe an asset tracking system which automatically detects and identifies equipment within rack; has “pinpoint” accuracy, i.e., location resolution equals asset size; relays this information to possibly several management back-ends; includes a back-end application that maintains a location history for all equipment; and uses a visualization tool to display both the current state and the history of deployment.The solution features a flexible architecture that simplifies the connection with both existing and future asset management applications. The architecture supports simple configuration, load balancing, and redundancy. Care has been taken to use widely recognized standards wherever possible.

A Self-Configuring Sensing System for Data Centers

Wiring sensors in a data center is extremely expensive in comparison to the wiring of computing equipment. This is due to the central architecture of traditional sensing systems, which requires long wires to be connected between racks and a central box. In addition, a re-layout of the racks after the sensor wires are deployed is practically impossible. We propose using a wireless self-configuring network of smart sensing nodes to alleviate these problems. We explore how to design the sensor control software to be self-reconfiguring when nodes relocate. The software is divided in three layers: network organization, data aggregation and visualization. In this paper, we identify several insights into the thermal monitoring requirements, design issues and initial design solutions for these layers.

WEBSIGN: A looking glass for e-services

Desktop browsers are excellent for browsing web sites but they keep users tethered. Wireless browsing technologies such as WAP and i-mode untether nomadic users by making these services available on the move. However, it is not clear if users will be satisfied with free form browsing offered by these wireless technologies. We believe that in addition to free form web browsing, nomadic users will choose to interact with e-services in their environment, if the interaction is transparently setup. Based on this belief, we have created a PDA based system that essentially provides nomadic users with a digital looking glass for viewing and interacting with e-services associated with physical objects and places . In this paper, we present an overview of this system-Websign.

Automating server tracking for data centers

Asset management in state of the art data centers is still a manual process. An automated system to track the location of servers and create a real-time inventory would not only improve operations management but also reduce operational costs. This demo shows a novel application of location aware wireless networks, RFID technology and visualization software integrated in end-to-end system to track servers in a data center.