Who this is for
This guide compares five DCIM platforms: Aravolta, Nlyte, Sunbird dcTrack, Schneider EcoStruxure IT, and Hyperview. We have tried to be specific about what each product does and does not do.
Why colocation operators care about DCIM differently
Enterprise data center teams and colo operators have different problems. If you run a data center for your own applications, DCIM is mostly asset tracking and capacity planning. If you run a colocation facility, you also have tenant billing, customer-facing reporting, SLA compliance, and racks full of gear you do not control because the tenants brought it.
Most DCIM platforms were built for the enterprise case first. Tenant portals, metered power billing, and per-customer environmental reporting were bolted on later, if at all. Keep that in mind as you read.
Feature comparison
How the five line up on the capabilities an operator cares about.
| Capability | Aravolta | Sunbird dcTrack | Nlyte | Schneider EcoStruxure IT | Hyperview |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asset management | Auto-discovered | Manual entry | Manual entry | Schneider devices only | Manual + some discovery |
| Capacity planning | Live data, automatic | Manual data pull | Manual data pull | Limited | Manual data pull |
| Power monitoring (multi-vendor) | Automatic, any vendor | Manual SNMP config | Manual integration | Schneider PDUs only | Manual SNMP config |
| Environmental monitoring | Automatic (BMS/SCADA) | Manual integration | Manual integration | Schneider sensors only | Manual integration |
| Tenant portal (white-label) | Yes, included | No | No | No | Yes, included |
| Automated tenant billing | Yes, metered power | No | No | No | Limited |
| BMS / HVAC integration | Native (Modbus, BACnet) | Third-party needed | Third-party needed | Schneider BMS only | Third-party needed |
| Network topology discovery | Auto (LLDP/CDP) | Manual entry | Manual entry | Limited | Auto (LLDP) |
| Typical deployment time | Days | 3 to 6 months | 3 to 6 months | 1 to 4 months | Weeks |
| Protocol breadth | SNMP, Redfish, IPMI, Modbus, BACnet, gNMI | SNMP, Modbus, Redfish | SNMP, Redfish | SNMP, Modbus | SNMP, IPMI, Redfish |
| API | REST, webhooks | REST (limited) | SOAP-based | REST (limited) | REST, webhooks |
Based on publicly available documentation and our own testing where possible. As of March 2026. Vendors update their products regularly, so verify current capabilities before purchasing.
Vendor by vendor
Aravolta
Aravolta is a BMS, EPMS, SCADA, NOC, and DCIM in one product, so you do not need a separate BMS for HVAC monitoring, a separate power metering system, and a separate DCIM for asset tracking.
It discovers devices over SNMP, Redfish, Modbus, and BACnet, so nobody spends months typing in assets. The tenant portal and metered power billing are built in, the BMS and SCADA side connects natively without middleware, and there are 3D facility views, floor plans, and heatmaps. Protocol support is broad enough for a mixed-vendor floor, and deployment takes days rather than months.
Sunbird dcTrack
A DCIM built around asset tracking and cable management. Deployment takes months and goes through professional services. There is no built-in tenant portal or billing, no BMS or HVAC integration (so cooling and environmental monitoring need separate tools), and no SCADA or NOC. The UI has not changed much in years. Pricing is quote-based with professional services on top.
Nlyte
Now owned by Carrier Global. A DCIM built around asset lifecycle management. Deployment is slow and expensive, and professional services are close to mandatory. It was not built for colocation, so tenant management is an afterthought, and protocol support is narrow. There is no built-in tenant billing, customer portal, BMS, SCADA, or NOC. The product roadmap has been unclear since the Carrier acquisition.
Schneider Electric EcoStruxure IT
Works if the whole facility runs Schneider hardware. Add PDUs from Raritan, cooling from Vertiv, or anything else that is not Schneider and you hit gaps. There is no built-in tenant portal or billing. It was designed to monitor Schneider gear, not to run a multi-tenant facility, and cross-vendor support is limited. Pricing is opaque.
Hyperview
A newer cloud-native DCIM with a modern UI and published pricing. It is DCIM only, though, so you still need separate BMS and SCADA systems. There is no native BACnet or Modbus support for BMS equipment and no NOC. The customer base is smaller.
What actually makes Aravolta different
Aravolta is one platform for BMS, EPMS, SCADA, NOC, and DCIM. That matters because a typical colocation facility runs at least three or four separate systems to cover those functions.
- BMS vendor for HVAC and building systems
- Power metering vendor for EPMS
- SCADA system for cooling plant monitoring
- NOC tools for network and server alerts
- DCIM for asset tracking and capacity
- One platform covering all five functions
- One screen for your operators
- No middleware or integration projects
- One vendor to deal with
- One bill
One platform and one vendor, with no integration project or middleware in between. Discovery against a library of more than 46,000 make, model, and firmware versions is why a site comes up in days rather than months.
Deployment
Sunbird and Nlyte deployments typically take 3 to 6 months: site surveys, manual asset entry, professional services, and staff training before anything useful shows up on a screen.
Aravolta deploys in days. We discover devices over standard protocols (SNMP, Redfish, Modbus, BACnet) instead of asking anyone to type them in, which also means nobody maps MIBs and OIDs by hand, digs through Modbus register spreadsheets, or spends weeks of services time configuring templates. Monitoring, power metering, and tenant billing are running the same week the node arrives.
What to look for during a DCIM evaluation
Whichever vendor you are talking to, ask these five things.
1. Bring your own hardware list
Give the vendor a list of every PDU model, UPS, CRAC/CRAH unit, and switch in your facility. Ask them to confirm which ones they support natively and which require custom integration. This is where a lot of demos fall apart.
2. Ask about tenant billing
If you bill tenants for metered power, ask the vendor to show you exactly how that works in their platform. Can it pull readings from your existing meters? Can it generate invoices or export billing data? Or do you need to build that yourself?
3. Get a reference from a similar facility
Ask for a reference customer who runs a colocation facility of similar size and type to yours. An enterprise data center reference is not the same thing; the problems are different.
4. Test the deployment claim
If a vendor says they deploy in days or weeks, ask them to do a proof of concept in your own environment rather than a demo environment. If they say it takes months, ask exactly what that time is spent on and whether any of it can run in parallel.
5. Understand the total cost
The software license is the starting point. Get numbers for professional services, training, annual maintenance, and any per-user or per-site fees, and ask what happens to the price when you add a second or third site.
Frequently asked questions
Do I actually need DCIM, or can I keep using spreadsheets and BMS?
Even a small facility benefits from having power, cooling, and asset data in one place instead of spread across spreadsheets and separate BMS logins. Once you are managing tenants, tracking power per cabinet, or holding to SLA commitments, the manual approach breaks down fast. DCIM gives you one system for capacity, power chains, and environmental data instead of cross-referencing five different tools.
What is the real difference between Aravolta and a traditional DCIM like Nlyte or Sunbird?
Scope. Nlyte and Sunbird are DCIM tools: asset tracking, capacity planning, and power monitoring. Aravolta puts BMS, EPMS, SCADA, and NOC functions in the same platform, so you are not buying and integrating four separate systems on top of the DCIM. Asset management, power metering, cooling monitoring, tenant billing, and 24/7 operations are one login.
How long does a DCIM deployment actually take?
Aravolta gets a site live in days because it discovers devices over standard protocols instead of waiting on manual data entry. Sunbird and Nlyte deployments typically take 3 to 6 months: detailed site surveys, manual asset entry, and professional services teams. Schneider EcoStruxure IT locks you into Schneider hardware and still requires professional services for anything beyond basic monitoring.
Can DCIM software work with mixed-vendor hardware, or do I need to standardize?
Most DCIM platforms support SNMP, which covers the basics across vendors, and Aravolta, Sunbird, and Nlyte all handle mixed environments. Schneider EcoStruxure IT and Vertiv are the tricky ones; both work best with their own hardware. If your facility has PDUs from three manufacturers and cooling from a fourth, get the vendor to confirm support for every one of them before you sign.
Is a white-label tenant portal worth it for a colocation operator?
If tenants regularly ask you for power usage reports, capacity updates, or environmental data, a self-service portal takes those requests off your operations team. Aravolta includes a white-label portal as standard. With Nlyte, Sunbird, and Schneider, you would need to build a portal on top of their API or bring in a third-party tool.
What protocols should I care about when evaluating DCIM?
At minimum: SNMP v2c/v3 for network gear and PDUs, Modbus TCP for power meters and BMS equipment, and BACnet IP if you want to pull in HVAC data. Redfish is increasingly important for server management (it is the modern replacement for IPMI). If you use Arista or Cisco switches and want streaming telemetry, gNMI support is a plus. Most legacy DCIM platforms rely primarily on SNMP. Aravolta supports all of the above natively.
Last updated: March 2026