Romonet

Romonet is a UK-based, privately held company, headquartered in London, UK that provides cloud-based solutions and services to data centers and associated technology.[1] Romonet solves energy, water, capacity and financial challenges in data centers. It claims it makes the first software that accurately predicts total cost of ownership (TCO) and properly model energy flow. They began by creating a term called 'data center predictive modeling' (DCPM) that "Rather than collecting real-time data, they predict data center configuration and architecture." [2] Romonet Inc was launched in 2011 [3] to bring the product to the US market.

Romonet Ltd
TypePrivate
IndustryInformation technology
Data center modeling software
Data center consultancy
Founded2006
Number of locations
London, UK, San Francisco, United States
Area served
Americas
Europe
Asia
Key people
  • Rick Skett
  • (Chairman)
  • Zahl Limbuwala
  • (Co-Founder, CEO & Exec. Director)
  • Liam Newcombe
  • (Co-Founder & CTO)
  • Darran Cox
  • (CFO)
  • Sean Newcombe
  • (CCO)
ProductsRomonet Portal, Romonet Software Suite

History

Romonet was founded in 2006 by Zahl Limbuwala and Liam Newcombe—initially to make software to analyze how much data centers cost to operate. Newcombe said, of IT cost, "The business is effectively prevented from managing operating costs or understanding the contribution to profitability." [4] In 2009, they collaborated to release an open source engine with the British Computer Society’s Data Centre Specialist Group.[5] Though the simulator was at an early stage, it was able to predict cost and power usage.[6]

On 24 June 2011, Romonet opened two new offices in the United States, a US HQ in San Francisco and an office in the iconic Empire State Building in New York.[7]

2009 - Partnered with British Computer Society and released a Beta of a Cost and Energy simulator[8]

2009 June - Romonet & C-Net to partner to provide training on the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres.[9]

2009 Nov - Romonet board appoints Rick Skett, former Intel exec and 30-year veteran as chairman of the board.

2010 Nov - Romonet Launches Romonet Software Suite – the first ever software to predict energy use and cost over the entire lifecycle of a data center [10]

2010 Nov - Computer Weekly featured a review of Romonet Software Suite [11]

2011 Feb - Arup uses Romonet Software Suite to provide visibility into their data center [12]

2011 Feb - Romonet announced Syska Hennessy Group and Skanska USA as official channel partners

2011 May - Zahl Limbuwala gives keynote speech at Google Data Center Efficiency event in Zurich [13]

2011 June - Launch of Romonet Inc. in the United States[14]

2011 June - Skanska partners with Romonet to design efficient Data Centers [15]

2011 Oct - Romonet board appointed Michael J Fister, former Intel senior exec and CEO of Cadence, as director and member of the board [16]

2011 Nov - Launches V2.0 of its DCPM software, Romonet Software Suite, which incorporates significant extra enhancements including ability to model using Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) data [17]

2012 July - Romonet partners with Red Engineering Design[18]

2012 Sep - Romonet partners with CS&I who specialize in critical systems typically associated with data center, hospital, and financial trading facilities.[19]

2012 Nov - Launches Romonet Portal - a SaaS type product that is 'designed specifically to address the business and financial management needs of those that own and operate data centers.' [20]

2012 Nov - Romonet partners with JCA Engineering [21]

2012 Dec - Romonet's principal mission critical engineer, Dr. Ehsaan Farsimadan, wins 'Young Mission Critical Engineer of the Year' at DatacenterDynamics Datacenter Leaders Awards 2012[22]

2013 April - i3 Solutions Group and Romonet partner 'to bring first lifecycle TCO analysis to enterprise data center operators' [23][24]

2013 July - Launches Portal 2.0 - the latest version of its SaaS type product[25][26]

2013 Nov - Announces that in partnership with Canara (formerly Intellibatt) it is now able to provide a fully managed remote monitoring service for data centers.[27][28]

2014 Apr - Romonet CEO presents at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on the subject 'Data Centers - From a Cottage Industry to an Industrial and Information Age Revolution'[29]

2014 May - Romonet wins an inaugural Uptime Institute Brill Award (Product Services category) in conjunction with Compass Datacenters [30]

2014 Oct - Romonet CEO publishes a controversial blog An open letter to data center investors, which gains considerable comment and feedback.[31]

2015 Mar - Romonet updates capabilities of Operations Portal, its SaaS product [32]

2015 Mar - Romonet partners with Vapor.io, 'the world’s first hyper collapsed and truly data defined data center solution' - [33]

2016 Apr - Romonet launches the "world's only water analytics" for the data center[34]

2017 Jan - Romonet launches its new certification program, Validated by ROMONET.[35]

Products

The Romonet platform

Romonet claims they have the only cloud-based, big data software platform that models, simulates, and predicts data center investment and operational performance. They say their analytics platform enables energy, financial, investment, and profitability objectives.

In November 2010, Romonet introduced Romonet Software Suite as a predictive modeling tool for data center decisions.[36] Romonet claims that it uses mathematical computation and computer aided simulation to perform non-intrusive, risk-free predictive modeling. It does not require that the software directly interact with the data center, and can model data centers in a simulated environment.

A Chief Architect at Intel said 'Romonet Software Suite could be a game-changer as the leading TCO/Predictive modeling solution for the data center industry.‛ [37] and Roy Illsley, principal analyst at Ovum Ltd "Predictive modeling enables companies to analyze and compare scenarios and say whether the move makes sense or not. Such level of knowledge and information is a great basis to make decisions, based on better assessments." [38] The company hopes that Romonet Software Suite will succeed in the growing field for data center infrastructure management (DCIM) tools.[39]

In November 2012, Romonet introduced Romonet Operations Portal a cloud-based solution that they intend data centre operators to use to forecast, plan, and measure business performance.[40]

Romonet Operations Portal

Romonet Operations Portal is an online view of data center performance that tracks several metrics and facilitates comparison of expected performance (as modeled) and actual performance as reflected from meter readings through the facility's BMS system.[41]

Validated by ROMONET

January 2017 saw the launch of Validated by ROMONET,[42] the "first independent certification process to measure the full end-to-end performance of the data center" throughout its lifecycle.

Corporate affairs

The company is run by a board of directors in the UK and US. The Board Members, as of November 2018, are Zahl Limbuwala, Liam Newcombe, Rick Skett and Rob Buchan.[43]

Environment

Liam Newcombe and Zahl Limbuwala regularly contribute to forums such as The Green Grid, a consortium collaborating to improve the resource efficiency of data centers and business computing ecosystems. Liam has actively been involved with and contributed to the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres. Both Romonet Software Suite and Operations Portal identify the amount of CO2 a Data Center produces to help organizations plan how to operate with less impact on the environment.

Sources
  1. Romonet website, retrieved 3 Sept 2015
  2. Zen Kishimoto. Zen and the Art of Data Center Greening (and Energy Efficiency). Blog 6 July 2011
  3. Datacenterknowledge.com 'Romonet using blueprints to predict performance', 29 June 2011
  4. Romonet website, Romonet University, 'How the corporate data center has become a cost black hole', pg5, para. 2
  5. www.katescomment.com, 'BCS Data Centre Cost and Energy Simulator Beta Released', 28 May 2009
  6. Ibid.
  7. Romonet website, News, 'Romonet expands operations to the US with East and West Coast offices' 24 June 2011
  8. Katescomment.com 'BCS Data Centre Cost & Energy Simulator Beta Released', 28 May 2009
  9. Joint Research Council, European Codes of Conduct for ICT, EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres
  10. datacenterdynamics website, 'UK company Romonet launches innovative simulation tool' 8 November 2010
  11. Computer Weekly, 'IT cloud decisions use flawed metrics', 8 November 2010
  12. Information Age, 'The model data centre', 28 Feb 2011
  13. datacenterknowledge.com, 'Most Users Resist Warmer Data Centers', 25 May 2011
  14. Romonet website, Announcements, 'Romonet expands operations to the US with East and West Coast offices', retrieved 2 Sep 2015
  15. Skanska US website 'Skanska has some 'swede' datacenter tricks up its sleeves, retrieved 2 Sep 2015
  16. The Whir, 'Data Center Tools Firm Romonet Names Board Member', 7 October 2011
  17. IT World, News, 'Romonet adds more smarts to its data center predictive modeling software', 30 November 2011
  18. Datacentres.com, 'Red Engineering partners with Romonet to deliver advanced data centre modelling services', retrieved 2 Sep 2015
  19. datacenterdynamics.com, News, 'Romonet partners with engineering firm CS&I', retrieved 2 Sep 2015
  20. Ark Data Centres website, News 'Uniquely bringing together engineering, operations and finance', retrieved 2 Sep 2015
  21. The Engineer, News 'Romonet forms partnership with JCA Engineering', retrieved 2 September 2015
  22. Datacenterdynamics.com, THE DATACENTERDYNAMICS EMEA AWARDS: OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION WINNER, retrieved 2 Sep 2015
  23. Datacenterdynamics.com, News, 'I3 Solutions and Romonet dig down into data center costs' retrieved 26 April 2013
  24. i3solutionsgroup.com, News, retrieved 26 April 2013
  25. Infotech Spotlight, 'i3 and Romonet Partner to Offer TCO Analysis to Enterprise Data Center Operators', retrieved 12 July 2013
  26. V3.co.uk, News, 'Romonet Portal 2.0 update helps firms analyse and predict IT infrastructure performance', retrieved 2 Sep 2015
  27. 'Romonet And Canara Launch Fully Managed Remote Monitoring Service For Data Centers', Breaking News\Power, retrieved 22 Nov 2013
  28. 'Managed remote monitoring partnership', Home\Design & Facilities Management\News, retrieved 22 Nov 2013
  29. lbl.gov website\News\Events retrieved 18 Jun 2014
  30. Uptime Institute website, Brill Awards, retrieved 25 Feb 2015
  31. LinkedIn, Pulse, Zahl Limbuwala, retrieved 2 Sep 2015
  32. Dtatacenterdynamics.com, Design & Strategy, 'Romonet updates data center modelling software', retrieved 2 Sep 2015
  33. Vapor.io website, Company, Technology Partners, retrieved 2 Sep 2015
  34. romonet. "Romonet Launches Water Analytics for the Data Center". Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  35. romonet. "Romonet Launches Validated by ROMONET". Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  36. datacenterdynamics.com, 'Romonet: Using Blueprints to Predict Performance', 29 June 2011
  37. Romonet website, Case Studies, Intel retrieved 2 Sep 2015
  38. Computer Weekly, Blogs, Inside Outsourcing, 'How do I understand the true cost of putting IT in the cloud?', 31 March 2011
  39. datacenterdynamics.com, 'Romonet: Using Blueprints to Predict Performance', 29 June 2011
  40. http://www.romonet.com/docs/operations-portal.pdf Romonet website, Product, Operations Portal, retrieved 2 Sep 2015
  41. datacenterknowledge.com, 'Romonet’s Portal 2.0 Targets True TCO Measures for IT Services', retrieved 25 Feb 2015
  42. "Validated by ROMONET". romonet.com. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  43. Romonet website, Who We Are, Our Board, retrieved 23 Nov 2015
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