| DELL
GOES GLOBAL WITH HEADSPRING
SOLUTION |
Summary
Headspring develops and
implements a new Server
Heat Output Calculator for
Dell's enterprise server
group. The system was adopted
across the organization
globally and was released
to customers after only
weeks of internal use. |
Client
Profile
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL)
is a premier provider of
the products and services
needed worldwide to build
company information-technology
and Internet infrastructures.
Dell, through its direct
business model, designs,
manufactures and customizes
products and services to
customer requirements, and
offers an extensive selection
of software and peripherals.
|
Project
Initiative
The challenge Dell engineers
faced was to find an automated
way to compute the thermal
output of the company's
server hardware. Dell's
existing system was cumbersome,
burning valuable resources,
and was only providing high-level
data for capacity planning.
Increasingly, Dell recognized
that this was not a user-friendly
or valued measurable approach.
Dell needed a new solution
immediately. |
The
Search for a Solution
Dell's thermal engineering group had heard numerous success stories from other engineering teams regarding their experience with Headspring, and based upon these internal testimonies, selected Headspring to develop the solution. Headspring
developed requirements for
a new system for an automated
thermal calculator, and
submitted these requirements
to Dell's internal development
team for review. However,
at that time, Dell did not
have enough available resources
to begin working on the
project. |
Project
Objectives
The Dell team needed an
interim solution that would
provide the core benefits
of its requirements: a simple,
easy-to-use interface that
would allow input of different
data factors in order to
calculate heat output. While
it sounded simple and obvious
to the people working with
these servers, there were
multiple factors involved
and complex computations
to make. Dell also wanted
to take over management
of the tool internally once
the initial requirements
were met. |
The
Options
Despite having access to
many resources, the Dell
team had exhausted its internal
options. The existing tool
was inflexible, and having
someone manually compute
it proved to be too cumbersome.
That's when the Dell Engineering
Strategist commissioned
Headspring to develop a
more feasible solution. |
The
Headspring Solution
The Headspring team deployed
its product development
process and within weeks
was able to deliver an easy-to-use,
graphically rich tool. The
solution allowed end users
to input the number of servers
and specific configurations
in order to instantly obtain
the thermal output of their
machines. The technical
spreadsheet created by Headspring
experts enabled Dell's team
to help customers plan their
server infrastructure environment
quickly and easily, adjusting
the configurations to the
customers' needs. |
Customer
Value
Headspring delivered the
new tool to the commissioning
organization on time and
within budget in just six
weeks. The engineering team
found the new calculator
easy to deploy and it instantly
became an essential business
tool. The product release
meant that the previously
dedicated resource members
were now able to focus on
other engineering priorities.
The thermal spreadsheet
tool has proven so easy
to use, that even non-technical
team members have adopted
it, which means they no
longer need support from
the engineering team as
they plan this aspect of
their projects. And no engineer
could have calculated results
like that. |
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