Cirba, a data center intelligence software developer, has released the latest version of its product that will offer a number of enhancements and tools for IT managers looking to keep better track of data center assets.

The Ontario, Canada, company's software, called Data Center Intelligence, allows data center managers to keep view and keep reports on system configurations, compliance regulations and how resources are used. The software can also keep track of changes and differences in a data center's configurations.

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The goal of data center intelligence software, which is produced by a handful of companies, including Cirba, is to allow IT managers the ability to track down and fix problems within the data center, identify risks and locate opportunities to consolidate assets by shifting burdens to underutilized equipment.

The new 4.0 version of DCI builds on the improvements that company made when it launched the 3.0 version in 2006. During that release, the company allowed IT administrators the ability to create reports on changes or compliances against different departments, servers of services. The earlier version also allowed for more advanced compliance reports and advanced analytical reports.

In the 4.0 version, Cirba is offering its users an enhanced interface and visualization that will make it easier to identify consolidation and virtualization opportunities within the data center. The new software will also create plans and provide metrics to show how the data center could look both before and after the consolidation of assets.

According to a statement from the company, this new interface allows users to "change color mapping to ease visualization of the potential within complex environments, and then drill down for the underlying details and settings that would be required to act on a given plan."

The software also offers different tools for managers to keep track and analyze virtualization within the data center. For example, the software includes a "VMware Configuration" report that will provide detailed configuration on a VMware ESX host server and its "guest VMs [virtual machines]."

The new version of DCI also allows administrators to examine the data center specifically for virtualization opportunities and to check on specific workloads. The enterprise version also allows managers to analyze heterogeneous data centers and develop plans to consolidate workloads and examine constraints.

The latest version of the DCI software is available as of Jan. 17, and the price is determined through the number of server operating systems that are being audited.

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