Need DCIM software? Are you currently looking at various vendors, capabilities, and options? Wondering what’s better…pricing DCIM software by rack or object? I’ll make this one easy for you: pricing by objects…hands down!

Why is that?

Pricing DCIM by objects gives you far greater control over your data center and all your network documentation and licensing options— without additional costs. Pricing by racks limits you: if you only have one device inside of a rack, bam: you just used up a whole license and just paid for it….all because you wanted to have one device in your rack. Pricing by racks gets expensive fast.

Some people may decide, “I will just document the core data center racks and ignore other racks around the rest of the office or campus or world because I need to squeeze all the devices into a rack to optimize costs.” Where is the flexibility in that? Pricing DCIM by racks is a no-win situation: it’s not good for the customer because you’re de-incentivized from customizing your data center in the best way possible for your organization, and it’s not good for the software vendor because de-incentivized customers don’t become longtime users or product champions.

What if, for example, you want to move devices around or need to add a new cabinet or two and they are for planning purposes. So, you have to pay the full price for cabinets just for planning? Or even to show one device in the cabinet? In the words of some young kid that I can’t relate to…”now, that’s whack”.

With pricing by object, however, such as what our DCIM software netTerrain offers, you can have 1 or 20 devices inside of a rack. As you’re paying for just the objects, you get the most control and flexibility (we try to provide more flexibility in our licensing model). So, if you have one device in a rack then that is what you used, one object in the rack. If you want to add a few racks for planning and then remove them, you have full control of that (from a licensing perspective).

What if you may not even use your cabinets and just want to document the network in a nice logical or physical way — but without the cabinets? Sure: have at it. We are not fixed to the almighty “RACK” like its some monolithic deity that defines what you document: document the way you want to. What about our outside plant module? That’s not necessarily tied to racks either. You may literally want to show LIU in buildings and dont need to show them in racks. Then all the fiber cable between buildings, or manholes, handholes, etc.

Break free of the per rack license and liberate your network documentation. Per object is where it’s at…sucka. Have more questions about how our DCIM software is priced? Want a free trial? Ready for a demo? Click here to schedule a 15-minute zero pressure discovery call and learn more about netTerrain DCIM.

About Jason Sherman

As Graphical Networks’ Sales Engineering and Support Services Manager, Jason Sherman leads the pre and post sales cycle with the entire Graphical Networks software portfolio, and ensures current customers are able to use the software to its fullest potential.