Managing a Project with more Icing than Cake

 

Even in today’s marketplace, finding a product that resolves a problem at a fair price can be an impossible task.  You research and review various options and for one reason or another just can’t seem to find that perfect fit. Then after abandoning the idea altogether, along comes a product that not only meets, but exceeds your expectations.

 

That was my experience when I took on a project to locate and implement a temperature monitoring tool for all our data centers.  I am a Project Manager for one of the fastest growing credit card servicing companies in the United States. In 1996, we employed just 70 ASSOCIATES. Since then we've grown rapidly, adding a new site every year, and growing the family to over 4,000 associates!

 

In order to support this operation, we have a data center at each of our five locations. Each data center houses millions of dollars worth of equipment that must be stored in a controlled environment.  We also have a Corporate Command Center that monitors the network and all our equipment 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year.  Needless to say uptime is critical to our organization.  For this reason we are constantly striving to find ways of being more proactive in our monitoring.  This brought up the need to monitor the temperature within our data centers over the network.

 

When we first took to the internet to uncover a network temperature monitoring tool, we could only find one solution.  We brought this solution in-house in order to test, but upper-management was not overly impressed.  So the project was put on hold.  Six months later I hit the internet again, and found a second company had entered this arena of monitoring temperature over the network.  This product lacked the standardized SNMP capabilities we demanded.  So again the project went on hold.

 

Then about 4 months later, we found it; the ULTIMATE environmental monitoring solution on the market.  This product is made by NetBotz and is called the WallBotz 310.  Not only will this jewel measure temperature, it can do everything except make your supper!  It measures temperature, humidity, airflow, and sound.  It also has a camera onboard that can be viewed over the web. This camera can be tied to the standard door switch that can send an alert, or begin taking pictures any time someone enters a monitored door.  All of these options are included in one unit that’s about half the size of your laptop, and mounts on the wall.   This company also makes another unit that mounts in a rack, and both models have the ability to add some additional features.  You can add a second temperature monitor, an Amp Detector, or dry contact sensors that provide the flexibility to add motion detectors, glass break sensors, or even tie into water detection equipment.  The company even makes a software interface for our existing network monitoring software. The product was a cinch to install, easy to configure, and priced very affordably.

 

I guess patience really is a virtue.   Now when most of the staff retires for the evening, it’s nice to know that NetBotz is still on the job.  It not only provides temperature monitoring over the network which I view as the cake, but it is also constantly monitors those other variables that I consider icing, all at a very affordable price.  Aaaahhh….Sweet Success!!

 

Rich Weller

Project Manager