Schneider Electric collaborates with Cisco for energy management

Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management, has teamed up with Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, to provide an innovative and comprehensive energy management solution that monitors and manages energy consumption across all building domains.

With the combined solution, building owners and managers, architects, contractors, and IT managers will now be able to optimize energy efficiencies and business operations to save energy.

Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure active energy management architecture portfolio offers a single point of access that connects five domains of business expertise – power, data centers, process and machines, building control, and physical security – all within an open and flexible technology framework.

The EcoStruxure architecture integrates with Cisco EnergyWise embedded on the Cisco network infrastructure to provide a holistic building management solution, managing all energy-consuming building assets such as HVAC, lighting, security and, for the first time, reduce energy waste generated from IT/IP assets, including PCs, phones, catalyst switches, Power-over- Ethernet (PoE) endpoint devices and other IT devices.

With rising energy costs in buildings accounting for 42% of energy usage worldwide, there is an impetus to find ways of reducing energy consumption with these IP/IT devices within buildings and across the network.

Chris Curtis, President and CEO, Buildings Business, Schneider Electric, said: “Looking for innovative ways to increase energy efficiency and enable business performance within buildings is what Schneider Electric does every day with thousands of customers worldwide.

“Combining Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure architecture and Cisco EnergyWise provides organizations with the capability to go one step further and manage the energy consumption of IT/IP devices and PCs in the building management system domain for the first time. We are very excited about this opportunity and what our joint innovation will mean for reducing energy consumption in buildings across the globe.”

As a case study, two schools in Europe that used the combined solution from Schneider Electric and Cisco in a pilot project are currently saving approximately 30% of their IT energy, resulting in a reduction of close to 6% in their overall energy spend. Delivering a rapid, measurable return on investment (ROI), the combined solution provides users with the ability to reduce IT operating costs by up to 30% and building costs by close to nine per cent. It additionally allows them to meet regulatory and compliance mandates and accomplish corporate sustainability goals.