From planning to implementation and operation, Rittal’s significantly enhanced solutions portfolio supports companies throughout a data centre’s lifecycle. This is based on scalable IT solutions that are quickly ready for use – from individual racks all the way through to turnkey data centres. Rittal’s collaboration with its partner iNNOVO Cloud means the portfolio also includes solutions spanning all integration levels, including data centre location, virtualisation (server, storage, network) and Data Centre as a Service (DCaaS). This gives companies scalable solutions and flexible services with transparent costs for the entire data centre lifecycle.

Data centres are in a constant state of flux. Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things, big data and edge computing are the driving forces behind this process. IT solutions therefore need to be provided quickly in the form of efficient and reliable data centres that can be purchased both simply and cost-effectively. Rittal offers the comprehensive range of solutions required for companies to achieve this – from individual IT racks to turnkey data centres with maximum modularity and efficiency. Additional consulting, service and operating models enable Rittal and its partners to offer companies optimum support throughout a data centre’s lifecycle.

Lifecycle management for data centres

“With our enhanced solutions portfolio, Rittal Lifecycle IT provides companies with all the support they need – from planning and implementation all the way through to operation and optimisation of a multi-site IT infrastructure. This creates the conditions for the state-of-the-art IT landscapes now demanded by the digital transformation,” explains Andreas Keiger, Executive Vice President for European Sales at Rittal.

With its new programme, Rittal supports companies during all four phases of the IT lifecycle. The first phase – concept development – consists of selecting the solution modules and calculating both the investment costs (Capex) and operating costs (Opex). During the second phase, Rittal sets up the physical infrastructure (power, cooling, monitoring and security). IT components such as servers, storage and switches can optionally be integrated by partners. This is followed by commissioning and acceptance in the third phase. The data centre can be operated by the customer or by iNNOVO Cloud in the form of managed services. The fourth phase – optimisation – involves analysing the efficiency, costs and sustainability of the solutions installed. This reveals further potential for improving efficiency.

From rack to turnkey data centre

Rittal offers scalable products and solutions for all lifecycle phases. Rittal IT components – rack, power, cooling, monitoring and security – can be integrated into the physical infrastructure (OT – operational technology) to create system solutions ranging from individual rack applications and edge data centres to security room solutions and turnkey data centres based on the modular RiMatrix system.

Scalable, flexible and available fast

Working with partners, IT components such as servers, switches and storage can be integrated into each of the system solutions. The data centre can be set up on or off the customer’s premises depending on the operator model selected. Solutions can be purchased outright (capex) or leased (opex). For flexible resource management, Rittal and its partner iNNOVO Cloud enable complete virtualisation (server, storage and network) at integration level. OpenStack open source software is used for management purposes.