By: Molly Gross, Principal, Power Solutions, LLC
Power and cooling infrastructure has always been the foundation of data center operations, but increasingly, the value of that infrastructure depends on the software layer that monitors it. A UPS that runs without monitoring is a black box between maintenance visits; a precision cooling system without visibility into load trends is a reactive repair waiting to happen. As AI workloads, hyperconverged infrastructure, and distributed IT footprints push power and thermal density beyond what many facilities were originally designed for, organizations that rely solely on scheduled preventive maintenance are increasingly exposed to failures that continuous monitoring would have caught early.
This white paper, the latest in our series, reviews the software layer Schneider Electric provides for critical power and cooling infrastructure: EcoStruxure IT, its cloud-based monitoring and predictive analytics platform, and EcoStruxure Data Center Expert (DCE), its on-premises counterpart. It covers what each platform does, how NetBotz environmental monitoring extends visibility beyond the UPS itself, the economic case for continuous monitoring, and how to think about the right choice for environments ranging from a single-rack IDF closet to a hyperscale data center.
Power Solutions, LLC, a Schneider Electric Certified Service Partner and APC Elite Data Center Partner, helps organizations evaluate, deploy, and configure the right monitoring platform for their environment — and provides ongoing support once it’s in place.