equinix
Launch SmartView, an application that allows technicians to remotely monitor their server hardware at a Silicon Valley data center provider
Services
Market and competitor research
User experience design
Product management
Product strategy
Product team augmentation
The Ask
Equinix is a data center provider for some of the largest organizations including Facebook, Apple, and the like. They asked THEFT to launch the MVP of SmartView, a new Data Center Infrastructure Management application. DCIM is a mix of information technology and facility management to help users monitor, manage assets, and plan data center capacity. The introduction of SmartView would allow users to monitor their server hardware remotely.
We were to create a responsive design solution to fix existing issues while taking liberties with the design and experience. Our stakeholder team consisted of the head of UX and engineering, a producer, product manager, and a dozen developers.
Our Approach
The research stage had already been completed, so we leveraged the inputs, feedback, and other data points, to determine which features and updates to offer. Included were power and cooling infrastructure data, cage level environmental status, real-time alerts, creation of custom APIs, configurable reporting, and customizable dashboards.
Our team digested months of research, then created a pseudo-persona and sitemap to help anchor our user flows. We designed the dashboard where users could gain a bird's eye view of their operational status: environmental, power, mechanical, and electrical. We ensured all sections we designed were responsive and accessible, designing for inclusivity. We also created templates that provided consistency across designs.
The environmental section displayed data related to users’ IBX footprint including temperature and humidity. Power draw section showed both historic and real-time power consumption. The mechanical section provided reporting on air handling, cooling, smoke and fire detection, and leak detection. The electrical section provided an asset map to easily diagnose problems.
We also trained a cross-functional team of a dozen developers, product managers and junior designers to adopt new design methodologies.
Deliverables
This was a really fun and complex project where we were able to go above and beyond the ask in record time with very few iterations. This included competitive research and analysis templates, a requirements map, SmartView site map, (pseudo) personas, user flows, responsive designs, dashboard redesign, alarms, banners, alerts, and motion studies.
The Impact
By the end of the project, Equinix was now more easily able to capture the enterprise opportunity at $20+ billion. They quickly entered a market space that their competition had been creeping into. We helped them to address the demand of their users, streamline operational processes and reduce repetitive tasks, and deliver real-time, globally consistent notifications. The evergreen solution we designed could also be more easily maintained and improved upon as their team grew and scaled.