Unlocking the Value of Built-in Sensors for IT Resources Management in Data Centers: Opportunities Underlying Sensor Information Systems

The main objective of this paper is to provide insights into the role of sensor information systems (SIS) in general, as well as into the built-in IT hardware sensors in particular, within the context of IT resource management in the data centers. The paper explores the current practices of conventional IT resource management systems (IRMS) and sensor-based IRMS (SIRMS) in the context of data centers. This has been done with the objective to identify the gaps between the ideal and optimal utilization of built-in hardware sensors and facility SIS within the current practices. Furthermore, through content analysis of data gathered from five case studies, the paper evaluates the opportunities and added functionalities that SIRMS have the potential to provide to data centers through advanced automation of the information technology infrastructure. How SIRMS can facilitate the optimization of IT resource usage is also discussed. This leads to the elaboration on the contributions that SIS can make towards the automation of data centers.