Schneider Electric focuses on digitising data centres

Schneider Electric has expanded its data center solutions portfolio with the addition of new versions of its Critical Facility Operations offers.

The Critical Facility Operations offers are designed for large data center operators, as well as cloud and service providers.

According to Schneider Electric's vice president and general manager of data center operations, Anthony DeSpirito, the aim is to bring improvement to data center operations through digitisation.

"At Schneider Electric, we believe that digitisation of data center operations will result in reduced risk of human error, improved efficiency, cost savings, and increased transparency in the data centers we operate around the globe for our customers," says DeSpirito.

"As a single vendor for all critical operations in the data center grey and white space, Schneider Electric removes the silos frequently seen between facilities and IT staff, eliminating accountability issues and reducing risk."

The new, digitised Critical Facility Operations approach couples a software-driven process with 24x7 on-site facility operations and remote support.

Benefits for customers include:

-Increased operational efficiency: implementation in real-world customer environments have resulted in operational efficiency improvements of up to 15%.
- Lower risk and maximum uptime: qualified personnel operate and maintain the data center using powerful digital tools to ensure process standardisation and minimise risk of human error.
- Efficient IT planning: 'hands-on' tactical workflows are supported by centralised expertise for full lifecycle management of IT assets.

China Unicom is one of the world's largest telecommunications companies, providing cloud services in response to massive demand.

China Unicom elected to outsource on-site critical power operation services for two of its sites to Schneider Electric. Today, more than 100 Schneider experts operate two of China Unicom's hyperscale data centers.

"Schneider Electric's mature and customised Critical Facility Operations solution enabled us to improve greatly in terms of reliable operation, predictive maintenance, as well as risk control, achieving 100% uptime of the facilities,'' comments China Unicom's general manager of operations and services department, Kang Nan.

"We've also effectively reduced energy consumption, saving us up to 30% of cost.

Critical Facility Operations for data centers is a customised offer with pricing based on size of facility, number of assets, and optional services selected.  The offer includes:

- 24x7 infrastructure operations and maintenance; emergency preparedness and response
- Vendor management and oversight
- Daily walk-through and monitoring, change management, and continuous systems optimisation
- Data Center infrastructure engineering for strategic IT hardware capacity planning, power and cooling optimisation, and monitoring day to day operations.
- Rack and stack for standards-driven IT asset lifecycle management services, including installation, moves, adds, changes, and asset decommissioning.
- Smart hands for on-site technical support, fault identification and resolution, and preventative maintenance.

Critical Facility Operations is available globally. The enhanced digitised solution is available today in North America and coming soon to the United Kingdom, Ireland, and China, with other regions to follow.