Expanded Schneider Electric partnerships with technology companies that address IT and OT convergence, drove new industrial edge programs to empower system integrators to broaden their value enabling industrial digital transformations, the company recently announced.

There are three new industrial edge programs. They include new reference designs, a learning path for system integrators and a collaborative online community.

Schneider Electric’s Philippe Rambach

“The smart factory is becoming smarter. Our expanded partnerships and new industrial edge programs empower system integrators to leverage their domain expertise and become IT/OT convergence specialists and meet these needs for their customers,” said Philippe Rambach, senior vice president, industrial automation at Schneider Electric. “We know that smart manufacturing is driving an unprecedented wave of IT technologies into industrial spaces. As companies leverage AI, robotic processing automation and more, they will require edge computing solutions to reduce latency and enable resiliency, while ensuring privacy and security, and addressing important data and bandwidth requirements.”

The new industrial edge reference designs have been co-developed with Aveva, a designer of industrial software. These reference designs include solutions from Lenovo’s ThinkSystem technology and Stratus ftServer technology.

The new reference designs are available in Schneider Electric’s Local Edge Configurator which includes tools for customization.

Preconfigured technology based on reference designs help partners increase deployment speed, reduce field engineering costs, increase order processing, and reduce maintenance costs.

New Digital Training Series

Schneider Electric has a new learning program for edge computing. The program includes a digital training series on the EcoStruxure Micro Data Center and EcoStruxure IT solutions.

The 14-session development program focuses on how to leverage the new reference designs and IT solution providers to deliver complete IT/OT convergence solutions for end users. The training is available through the Schneider Electric Alliance Partner Portal.

The new Industrial Edge Community (IEC) helps system integrators identify and engage with edge-certified IT solution providers. The IEC facilitates new business and addresses IT/OT products. IEC is built within the Schneider Electric Exchange. There’s also a tool in the exchange that pairs Alliance System Integrators with Schneider Electric’s Edge-certified channel partners.

Schneider Electric also recently announced that it formed a partnership with Cisco to bridge IT and OT and make building management systems more secure, scalable, resilient and easy to manage.

The two companies have developed, tested and validated designs that help connect building management systems to an Internet Protocol (IP) network with a secure, scalable and resilient architecture that is easy to manage.