Schneider Electric launches StruxureWare™ Market Segment Software Suites

Schneider Electric has introduced new software suites to address the energy management needs of customers in key market segments. The new suites are part of Schneider Electric’s innovative StruxureWareTM software, the company’s platform of integrated software applications that will help its customers maximize business performance and be more efficient and sustainable.

“Executives, facility managers and operations staff are getting hit with unprecedented levels of information from a variety of data sources across their operations every day,” said Pascal Brosset, Chief Technology Officer, Schneider Electric. “The answer is not just more data. StruxureWare enables our customers to automatically pull data from their control systems, organize it into the relevant information for each function, and, more importantly, into actionable insight to make better decisions and improve efficiencies. It bridges the gap that many companies have identified today between their existing enterprise and control systems.”

StruxureWare software provides customers a simple integration, consistent user experience and scalable platform across all areas of their organization. The StruxureWare software applications and suites are designed to be integrated seamlessly within Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure™ architecture portfolio and can also be used as “stand alone” software tools and services within existing process and building environments. Schneider Electric introduced its EcoStruxure architecture in 2009 to connect a customer’s five domains of business expertise – power, data centers, process and machines, building control, and physical security.

“Companies that implement strong sustainability and energy management agendas will benefit from closer alignment and integration of enterprise-wide systems,” said Stephen Stokes, Vice President, Distinguished Analyst, Gartner. “This integration will reduce costs, minimize risks, develop projects faster, and provide flexibility.”

The StruxureWare market segment software suites are customized bundles of software applications that facilitate a more targeted approach to efficiency for customers within a specific segment. They can be fully implemented across an organization or phased in over time. They are flexible, easily integrated with third-party and legacy products and can perform across existing customer devices and platforms.

“With our StruxureWare software suites, Schneider Electric is taking what we’ve been very well known for, intelligent equipment and control systems, and adding an integrated layer of analytics leveraging our deep segment expertise that makes it extremely relevant and valuable for customers in these segments,” said Brosset.

Currently available, StruxureWare for Data Centers is the model for the other suites. It is a management software suite designed to simplify the installation and deployment of power and cooling and provide visibility to all domains that effect the data center environment. It combines previously independent offerings for monitoring, automation, planning and implementation to provide a multifaceted, complete view of all functions of the data center, providing a simple, integrated experience for many users and groups who manage both the facility and IT infrastructure environments.

Other StruxureWare suite offerings for segments such as Water, Healthcare and Grid will be introduced over the coming months. Each of these suites contains specific applications to help companies manage and monitor their sustainability initiatives, optimize their current operations and better manage their sites and processes.

Key to the new offers within the StruxureWare portfolio is:

Software as a Service capabilities: Key investments were made to enhance the company’s cloud-based portfolio, especially at the enterprise and operations levels. At the enterprise level, the company has launched Resource Advisor, the online energy and sustainability management portal based on technology the company acquired when it purchased Summit Energy. At the
operation level, Schneider Electric launched Energy Operation, technology acquired through its Vizelia acquisition. Resource Advisor is an online management tool for directors and executives working in energy, finance, purchasing, and sustainability. The application stores verified energy carbon cost and usage data harvested from a number of sources, including energy and water invoices. Energy Operation provides customizable energy data reporting, analytics and optimization across multiple sites.

• EcoStruxure Web Services: This new service is the glue that binds all the software applications together and enables cross-application communication within the StruxureWare porftolio. This common language for data exchange will be “spoken” by each of the StruxureWare applications. The benefits are wide-ranging – from the ability to harvest data from various applications to the increased speed of commissioning to the heightened accuracy of data sets.

1 “For companies seeking to manage their global carbon footprint, understand and control their energy spend, or add new tools to identify and prioritize energy efficiency initiatives, StruxureWare is the resource to deliver this visibility and information,” concluded Brosset.