Aveva, Schneider Electric, partner to leverage pandemic investment into datacentres

Aveva and Schneider Electric, have partnered to deliver end to end solution for hyperscalar, multi-site, and regional datacentres. The newly announced solution partnership is dependent on a degree of innovation that it brings to the evolving datacentre market. The solution integrates Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure for Datacentres power, building and IT management systems with Aveva Unified Operations Centre. The partnership is expected to deliver improved efficiency from standardised systems and processes across multiple sites and the entire enterprise.

As hyperscalers build datacentres as an expanding fleet to meet global demand, the complexities to operate and maintain these facilities are creating challenges. Operating at this scale requires a different approach for mission critical facilities powering the globe’s digital infrastructure.

The combination of Aveva Unified Operations Centre, scalable industrial software with Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure for Datacentres control and monitoring capabilities enables deep visibility into day-to-day operations. The new joint solution provides a homogenous view of engineering, operations, performance across a heterogenous, legacy installed base.

The global datacentre market can be divided into three segments – the hyperscaler, global scale datacentres; the regional and aggregated edge datacentres; and the distributed, small scale, local edge datacentres. The local edge datacentres are usually well equipped with small scale solutions. But where the sweet spot for the recent Schneider Electric and Aveva partnership, is expected to play, is in the regional edge datacentres and global hyperscaler datacentres, according to Rashesh Mody, Senior Vice President and Head of Monitoring and Control, Aveva.

“How do I manage and scale larger solutions. This is where this next generation solution we are talking about is very appealing,” he points out.

Out of the four global solution markets that Schneider Electric operates in, including buildings, industry, infrastructure, and datacentres, it is datacentres that had the smallest contribution at 15% in 2019. With the acceleration of digital transformation during the pandemic, datacentres have been scaling their compute and network capacity. The Schneider Electric and Aveva partnership is targeted at gaining revenue market share out of that global investment.

The Aveva portfolio of solutions provides capabilities across operations, engineering and performance. Aveva also integrates multivendor and multiplatform solutions into one single panel of glass. “From an operations perspective, we have tools to improve efficiency throughput, worker skill management, simulation, predictive analytics, under a single pane of glass. We bring operations technology, information technology, Industrial IoT, all under one integration umbrella. And that is what big datacenters have been looking for,” remarks Mody.

“How do I bring all this different vendor information together, but with connected and contextual data. It is not only bringing data and connected but it is also about, how do I use it,” he points out. Aveva adds a layer of data analytics over all other solution platforms operating in datacentres and brings the pieces together. How to improve performance efficiency throughput; energy-saving; worker skill management; amongst others.

“The solution is flexible in terms of deployment and in terms of scalability, features and function. It is the customer that really decides the architecture. We basically provide all the bricks,” says Mody.

Hyperscale datacentre providers will benefit from this partnership by connecting platforms and data sets that previously existed in disparate systems. They will also be able to scale regardless of number of sites or global location.

Datacentre staff will be empowered to make faster, and more informed decisions and optimise asset and operational efficiency throughout the datacentre lifecycle. As a result, datacentre providers can deliver a globally consistent experience to address the expanding digital infrastructure needs of their clients.

The solution can take data that has been managed at individual datacentres, often in siloed sub-systems, normalise it across multiple sites and can ultimately provide enterprise level IT, OT, IoT integration to deliver real-time decision making. The complete solution will deliver operational efficiency and a more reliable datacentre fleet.

With regard to the joint go to market – Mody explains that it is driven by Schneider Electric and Aveva has embedded its teams inside those of Schneider Electric. “We get them up to speed on digital transformation and digital twin simulation, and all the different technologies. We have regular collaboration and we are jointly doing a number of projects together. The front-end sales, support, services, implementation, deployment is run by Schneider.”