"PowerRecon is an excellent tool for beginning a virtualization initiative by answering the question 'What the heck do we have in the data center, anyway?' wrote one judge. Check it out if you want to take a "thoughtful, methodical approach to virtualization and virtualization project management," he said.

At its core, PowerRecon helps you plan and assess a virtualization and consolidation project by collecting hardware, software and services information for various server workloads in a data center.

With version 3.1, PlateSpin PowerRecon adds two new important capabilities: the ability to do chargeback and report on virtual machine (VM) growth. With chargeback support, PowerRecon converts IT resource usage data into billable values that can be delivered as chargeback reports to business units. Meanwhile, VM growth reports help administrators monitor the proliferation of virtual machines and prevent sprawl.

Also with this version, PlateSpin addresses another key area of data center concern: power consumption. Users can analyze potential power and cooling cost savings by inputting custom data on the energy requirements of their hardware platforms, enabling organizations to analyze green-computing initiatives.