EnergySTEP joins Schneider to provide tool to assess energy usage and efficiency

Schneider Electric, specialising in energy management, has announced introducing EnergySTEP Data Center Assessment, which it claims is an innovative new solution in its energy management services for data centres.

The EnergySTEP Data Center Assessment is a detailed customisable assessment of the power, cooling, physical infrastructure and operational efficiencies of a data centre, which allows data centre managers to benchmark the performance of their facility against industry standards, such as the Green Grid Data Center Maturity Model, Schneider revealed. The analysis focuses on identifying improvements that will help drive down the spiraling cost of energy, while ensuring maximum availability, it added.

Explaining the finer points of the service, Schneider said that apart from customising the assessment of power, the system reports on specific functions within the data centre, offering flexibility, which will help meet energy usage goals, business needs and financial targets. The extensive data collection and analysis is performed by a Schneider Electric energy management services (EMS) specialist, with expertise in data centre operations and energy management. Schneider claimed that the comprehensive report generated by the assessment, thus provides the vendor neutral recommendations, including detailed findings illustrated with graphics and performance benchmarks. The specific recommendations for improving efficiency and maximising availability include estimated cost savings and ROI analysis, it said.

Jim Simonelli, Senior Vice-President, Solutions Officer, Schneider Electric, said: “Providing data centre managers with a tool to assess energy usage and efficiency empowers them to make informed decisions on optimising their infrastructure. Furthermore, the recommendations offered by Schneider Electric’s EnergySTEP Data Center Assessment will result in optimised energy usage, reduced operating costs and will enable data centre managers to prioritise improvements to better manage capital expenses.”