Schneider Electric has picked up an award for AI/Machine Learning Innovation of the Year, while it jointly received the Edge Project of the Year accolade, sharing it with EfficiencyIT, at the SDC Awards 2019. 

The award for ‘AI/Machine Learning Innovation of the Year’ was presented to Schneider Electric for its next-generation DCIM platform EcoStruxure IT, which utilises AI to ensure that data centre operators are always one step ahead. When we spoke to Schneider Electric’s Kevin Brown last month, the company admitted that AI was key to the success of EcoStruxure IT, and data centre operators can benefit from predictive maintenance alerts and other such features thanks to it, but also noted that AI would continue to improve the software. 

“I’m delighted to accept these prestigious awards on behalf of Schneider Electric,” said Marc Garner, vice president, Secure Power Division UK&I. 

“As the industry’s next-generation data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) platform, EcoStruxure IT leverages AI and ML technologies to proactively prevent downtime in data centre and edge computing environments. The software also provides end-users and partners with increased visibility that streamlines servicing and improves both operational and energy efficiency, something, which was instrumental for the Wellcome Sanger Institute.”

In addition to its award for AI/Machine Learning Innovation of the Year, Schenider also jointly took home the Edge Project of the Year award. This was the same Wellcome Sanger Institute project that was won by EfficiencyIT.

In that project the company provided its EcoStruxure IT to proactively manage the data centre, and to improve energy efficiency and resiliency. The campus has issues with power reliability, and any outage could result in loss of important genomic data and costly replacement of sequencing chemicals. Therefore, to protect the laboratory processes from downtime, the Institute has installed individual Schneider Electric Smart-UPS uninterruptible power supplies on each of its sequencers.

“EcoStruxure IT was selected due to its open-based architecture, which allows us to integrate with the technology already in place on campus, and because we considered it best-in-class for the Institute’s requirements,” said Simon Binley, data centre manager, Wellcome Sanger Institute. 

“The platform provides us with increased visibility into the entire data centre environment and enables us to improve energy efficiency, meaning in time, more funding will be available for critical research that will benefit all of humankind.”