When software and services meet, you may be part of a winning team overcoming edge challenges

Schneider Electric recently announced availability of a new API for EcoStruxure™ IT and our new Monitoring & Dispatch Services. Somebody asked me how this would help the industry with the challenges we see at the edge and I stated that it’s a “one-two punch.” They looked at me strangely, not understanding the analogy. Sports talk varies in different parts of the world, but whether you’re scoring runs in baseball or cricket, sports bring people together and we share a sort of common language.

 

Bear with me as I run the risk of dating myself and having a teenager roll their eyes and say, “OK Boomer” (by the way – to be clear, I am way too young to be a boomer!). Remember Jim McKay spanning the globe to bring you all sorts of sports? Anyone who has heard Jim McKay talk about the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, and the human drama of athletic competition knows that sports embody rivalry, teamwork, and, most of all, a desire to win.

 

And that makes the language of sports pretty much perfect for the world of business. It helps describe our vision for these new software and services. So, in this time of no live sports on TV or elsewhere, here are three sports analogies to help illustrate my thoughts…

 

It’s a marathon, not a sprint

 

I run, and I know from experience how difficult it can be to run very long distances. But there’s no sense of accomplishment like crossing a major mile marker, whether you’re running, walking, or crawling. We have been focused on developing software to help meet the needs of our customers and we have just passed a major mile marker.

 

With the availability of the API, EcoStruxure IT Expert can easily integrate with any system. This helps to enable a more open ecosystem, which I believe the industry needs to embrace. We need to empower our partners to seamlessly integrate a power and critical infrastructure monitoring platform into their preferred management systems. This provides an opportunity to create new revenue streams for partners and more flexibility and options for end-users.

 

And we aren’t done! We still need to run hard to help the industry solve the challenges we see coming and there are still mile markers to go. But we are super proud of this milestone.

 

Having someone in your corner

 

This saying comes from boxing. A fighter’s support system is literally at one corner of the ring. Anyone in business, or in life, can appreciate the importance of unflinching support in the face of a challenge. I can’t think of a better description for Schneider Electric’s Monitoring & Dispatch Services than having someone in your corner.

 

Monitoring & Dispatch Services is a new offer where Schneider will monitor your assets for you and automatically perform on-site support on those assets as needed. In other words, just like a boxer, we are in your corner, taking care of your infrastructure so you can focus on winning your fight.

 

And when necessary, customers can chat collaboratively with expert engineers at our Connected Services Hub about incidents. We offer 24/7 remote monitoring and troubleshooting, incident tracking, monthly reporting, and real-time notifications all for one monthly fee.

 

Monitoring & Dispatch Services mean you are not alone — you have the entire Schneider team in your corner.

 

Keep your eye on the ball

 

This third analogy can be attributed to pretty much any sport that comes to mind. When you compete, it is essential not to get sidetracked or distracted from your overarching goal. If you want to be the championship team, you need to practice, deploy your resources effectively, and focus on the entire season.

 

Our goal is to drive resiliency of data centers and help build out the edge in a sustainable way because the newest energy challenge is coming from the edge. Schneider Electric predicts that by 2040, 80 percent of total data center energy consumption will come from edge data centers. That is equivalent to the energy consumption of 275 million households. But there is a paradox in that higher resiliency typically means lower efficiency. To tackle this contradiction, we are rethinking how we design and deploy at the edge with a three-pronged strategy that focuses on:

• Management: Software tools for large scale remote management of local data centers, using algorithms for predictive failure, and be open by having a publicly available API.
• Support: Develop services designed to scale with the edge and provide remote management support as an option, such as our new Monitoring & Dispatch Services.
• Standardization: Create repeatable solutions that take advantage of the latest technology to ensure the solutions are efficient.