Schneider Electric 'industrial' micro data centres arrive in Europe

Schneider Electric says that its EcoStruxure™ Micro Data Center R-Series for rugged indoor environments will be available in Europe by June 2021. The new IP and NEMA rated micro data centres offer a resilient and quick-to-deploy solution to help manage edge computing infrastructure within challenging industrial and manufacturing environments. A virtual event for industrial professionals will take place on May 18th, 2021 exploring how edge computing is helping food & beverage companies accelerate business resilience, performance, and sustainability.

As more industrial operators deploy Industry 4.0 technologies to increase productivity, safety, and automation, micro data centres have become increasingly essential to address everything from the convergence of IT and OT to the enabling of IIoT applications — making IT on the factory floor more reliable and simple to deploy. As part of the launch, six new models are available in 16U, 24U, and 42U sizes to allow for flexibility and scalability.

“As Industry 4.0 and advanced automation technologies continue to drive transformation within industrial environments, IT must be deployed closer to the point of use, enabling increased productivity and efficiency,” said Rob McKernan, SVP, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric, Europe. “The availability of our new IP and NEMA rated EcoStruxure Micro Data Center R-series solutions will help industrial manufacturers and distributors across the region truly reap the benefits of improved performance and reliability on the factory floor.”

EcoStruxure Micro Data Center solutions get industrial systems to market faster, more efficiently and at a reduced cost

EcoStruxure Micro Data Center solutions are configurable, pre-packaged, enclosed rack systems that include power, cooling, security, and management. They can save up to 40 percent in field engineering costs, get systems to market 20 percent faster, and reduce maintenance costs by seven percent. Micro data centres take advantage of existing infrastructure and can potentially reduce capital expenses by 48 percent over a traditional build. The new R-series reinforces these benefits and helps customers alleviate difficulties because they are:

· Built to withstand harsh indoor environments and applications with minimum ingress protection ratings of IP54 and NEMA 12. Industrial edge environments can be challenging with high levels of dust, moisture, and wide temperature variations.

· Managed remotely with Schneider Electric’s portfolio of software and digital services when there’s limited-to-no on-site IT staff. EcoStruxure IT, an open, vendor-agnostic platform, provides the power and flexibility for users to manage critical infrastructure on their own, with a partner, or to allow Schneider Electric's service engineers to manage the assets for them.

· Equipped with security features, such as access control, intrusion detection and security camera that allow it to go in unsecured locations.

· Able to standardise your design across multiple environments with a single, all-in-one-solution, which is easier to deploy and maintain than disparate systems.

Learn more about the new EcoStruxure Micro Data Center R-series

The new R-Series is available through mySchneider IT Solutions Partners and Schneider Electric sales representatives. Visit this page for more information about Schneider Electric’s new IP and NEMA rated EcoStruxure Micro Data Center R-series for rugged indoor environments.

What is Industrial Edge Computing?

For industrial operators to capture the benefits of increased automation, they cannot rely on cloud-technology alone to bring the resiliency and speed demanded by artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other Industry 4.0 technologies. Local edge data centres are IT infrastructure enclosures/spaces/facilities distributed geographically to enable endpoints on the network. When in industrial environments, such as a manufacturing plant or distribution centre, this application is referred to as "industrial edge computing." Analysts have identified the edge as becoming increasingly important.