Data center infrastructure management (DCIM) tools monitor, measure, manage and/or control data center resources and energy consumption of both IT-related equipment (such as servers, storage and network switches) and facilities infrastructure components (such as power distribution units and computer room air conditioners). They are data-center-specific (they are designed for data center use), rather than general building management system tools, and are used to optimize data center power, cooling and physical space. Solutions do not have to be sensor-based, but they do have to be designed to accommodate real-time power and temperature/environmental monitoring. They must also support resource management, which Gartner defines as going beyond typical IT asset management to include the location and interrelationships between assets.
Gartner defines the enterprise wired and wireless LAN market as the infrastructure that enables secure connectivity across enterprise locations. This encompasses the hardware, software, and management capabilities required to deliver physical and logical network connectivity, enforce zero-trust security principles, and automate operations across campus, branch, and remote environments, including operational technology (OT) domains. Enterprise wired and wireless LAN infrastructures solve the operational complexity of delivering secure, scalable connectivity across distributed enterprise environments. As organizations expand across campus, branch, remote, and operational technology domains, traditional network deployment and management approaches become too resource-intensive and inconsistent to meet business demands. The offered capabilities address the business problem of fragmented network operations by unifying life cycle management (that is, provisioning, monitoring, policy enforcement, and incident response) into a single, software-driven system. This reduces manual effort, shortens resolution times, and improves compliance with governance and security requirements. While hardware remains foundational, it is the infrastructure operations software (that is, automation, telemetry, and policy orchestration) that delivers the operational and business value enterprises seek. Tangible outcomes include faster site turn-up, proactive issue detection and remediation, consistent user experience, and alignment of network operations with enterprise workflows through IT service management (ITSM) integration. Organizations also gain flexibility through cloud, on-premises, hybrid, and network as a service (NaaS) consumption models, enabling them to scale operations efficiently while maintaining control over data and performance.
Gartner defines network access control (NAC) as technologies that enable organizations to implement policies for controlling access to corporate infrastructure by both user-oriented devices and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Policies may be based on authentication, endpoint configuration (posture) or users' role/identity. NAC can also implement postconnect policies based on integration with other security products. For example, NAC could enforce a policy to contain the endpoint based on an alert from a SIEM. An organization should evaluate the following capabilities: • Device visibility/profiling • Access control • Security posture check • Guest management • Bidirectional integration with other security products.