The Benefits

FOCUS – Benefits Overview

FOCUS is a method based on open-source data streaming tools and lots of industry knowledge to create standardized power telemetry data from your network.  FOCUS has a large set of inherent benefits:

🎯 Operational Benefits

• Energy Savings - This depends heavily on your existing network, but even in the most efficient current networks better data can save you 1-2% of your energy spend.   With more advanced control functions, we've seen improvements of over 10%.
• Low Upfront Cost – Built on widely available open-source tools, FOCUS dramatically reduces software acquisition costs.
• Low Cost of Software Support – Avoids expensive proprietary support models by leveraging well supported tools with large, active developer communities.
• Hardware & Software Agnostic – Works with all classes, makes, and models of equipment already in your network.  Can provide standardized data to software you already use.  If you DO choose to add hardware, such as an AC meter or IP camera, you can choose any make of meter or camera that meets your price/performance requirements.
• Energy Billing - Standardized energy data from sites can be combined with energy data from other sources like billing data or tariff rates. 
• Purchasing Benefits - By standardizing data from classes of equipment, you remove the need to continue to buy passive equipment from particular vendors just because having fewer vendors made it easier to technically handle network management.  FOCUS removes the network management role from the equipment itself and allows you to "focus" your purchasing efforts on the equipment that delivers its core function at the best value.
• Adaptable to All Site Sizes/Types –  FOCUS is well suited to work across your entire network environment—from large data centers to remote edge cabinets.
• Smallest Solution - Standardizing data as a basic function enables FOCUS to economically fit any network operator in the world.    
• No Site Hardware Required – No hardware installation or equipment replacement is required.
• Network Overlay - FOCUS doesn't disrupt your current network operations.  We recommend that you keep your network alarming scheme exactly as it is now, at least to start.
• Fast Deployment – Roll out FOCUS across hundreds or even thousands of sites in weeks, not years.
• Data Ownership – You own the data infrastructure and resulting data.  The data you create has a $ value now and in the future.   We currently have example data centers we can show where we are collecting 25k+ energy data points per minute.
• Easy to Trial – As a non-disruptive network overlay, FOCUS can be tested with minimal effort and disruption to your current network. 
• Knowledge Transfer - You may have already considered creating an internal solution similar to what we're talking about.  ClaritechIO can greatly boost your own internal efforts. 
• A Solution That Fits - We can apply the FOCUS method to create solutions of any size, from simply helping boost your own internal data pipeline efforts by educating you on the FOCUS standardization method, doing a small section of sites to show you how it works, deploying sites but not managing them, or going all the way to complete managed solutions. 

🛠 Technical Benefits

• Standardized Energy Telemetry Data – Converts disparate equipment outputs into standardized formats by equipment class (eg. Generators, DC plant, PDU's, CRAC/HVAC).
• Integrates With Your Current Network – Compatible with TSDBs, Apache Kafka, Grafana, and modern data pipelines.   Standardized data provides solutions no matter what your current network looks like.
• Self-Monitoring – FOCUS tools report on their own system health alongside your equipment.
• Secure - Tools are widely supported and likely already used in your network.
• Scalable - Tools are effectively scalable to any size network.
• Cloud-Ready – FOCUS tools run on-prem, in the cloud, or in hybrid cloud deployments.
• Advanced Application Support – Standardized data is ideal for AI use and for combining with other data sources.

🔄 Interoperability Benefits

• Vendor Flexibility – Choose future site hardware freely.  You aren't tied to particular passive hardware vendors for power, cooling, or remote site management.   FOCUS will work with whatever vendor you choose to work with in the future.
• Legacy Integration – Can bring multiple legacy RTU-based systems and sites with no current solution into a unified system.   FOCUS doesn't penalize you for having already tried to solve problems with legacy solutions.
• Use Existing Tools – Standardized data works with your current visualization and analytics tools.
• Integrate to Other Data Sources - Standardized data can be combined with other data sources like energy billing or weather data. 
• Future-Proof - Standardized data gives more flexibility in how you design your future network and is a natural fit for working with hardware standards from groups like the Open Compute Project, and any future AI tools. 

🌱 Sustainability & Planning Benefits

• Measure Energy-Saving Initiatives – Get direct feedback on all your other energy efficiency efforts.  
• Direct Energy Savings - Easily locate sites that are furthest from benchmarked standards.  We conservatively estimate that between .5-1% of energy costs can be saved, even in currently efficient networks.
• GHG Emissions Calculations – Tie energy consumption data to power source emissions data for reporting.
• PUE Calculations - Site-by-site Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) is possible, not only in your datacenter locations, but also in your smaller (cell) sites.
• Capacity Planning – Improve power capacity planning by looking at detailed consumption per site or per rack.
• Inventory Management – Track firmware versions, models, and serial numbers across all monitored equipment.
• Vendor Comparisons - Standardized data across all vendors equipment.
• Control Functions (Advanced) – Can enable actions like power source switching for site life extension or peak shaving or HVAC setpoint changes.

🧠 Strategic Value

• Reduce Data Silos – Standardize data across power, environment, and security systems.
• Improves Network Efficiency - Improves network energy usage and capacity planning. 
• Improves Network Resilience – Faster response to faults and better site visibility.
• Supports Decision-Making – Standardized performance data supports purchasing, planning, operational and executive staff in managing network performance.
• Enables Future Use Cases – Standardized data supports future use cases, including cases that might not even have been considered yet.  Data is AI ready.
• Low Risk - FOCUS provides value at every stage.   ROI is almost immediate, lowering risk.