OSIsoft, a San Leandro, Calif.-based provider of comprehensive data management solutions for large enterprises announced Tuesday that it had joined a research group at Georgia Institute of Technology to fund research into optimization of data center operations by combining IT virtualization with thermal management.

Researchers from the Consortium for Energy Efficient Thermal Management and the Center for Experimental Research in Computer Systems will use the vendor's core offering - the PI System - as a central engine for collecting and analyzing data and for visualization of operations at the locations studies.

While models for using virtualization technologies to optimize data center operations and for optimizing physical layout of the data center to ensure appropriate temperatures for IT equipment are out there, no model exists for data center management that combines both the effects of a virtualization on data center environmental and considerations associated with thermal management, according to an OSIsoft statement.

"The joint research project on data center operations proposes bridging the gap between virtualization and thermal management by developing and modeling a virtualized IT environment holistically optimized for IT performance, IT power, thermal safety and cooling power," OSIsoft said in a statement.

CEETHERM's other industry partners are APC, IBM, Intel, Liebert and McKenneys.