Bolstering its effort to provide data center managers complete visibility over IT and facility operations, Schneider Electric is acquiring Viridity's EnergyCenter 2.0 platform.
The strategic investment in EnergyCenter 2.0 will enhance Schneider's StruxureWare for Data Centers suite, adding functionality to track energy use more closely and manage resource efficiencies for IT components including routers, servers and switches.
Viridity's software tracks server utilization and gives data center operators the opportunity to gather data and monitor IT assets for all mission critical physical systems of the data center, says Schneider. StruxureWare already incorporated facility and infrastructure management for data centers, but the EnergyCenter 2.0 platform adds the component of allowing Schneider’s customers to increase efficiency and manage energy use.
In June, Viridity released EnergyCenter 2.0 adding a number of enhancements to align more closely with business imperatives, including the ability accurately track compute time and energy cross-functionally between departments. The company also won a Green Enterprise IT Award from the Uptime Institute for Outstanding IT Product in May.
The acquisition of EnergyCenter 2.0 follows a deepening strategy by French-based Schneider Electric to fill out its product suite for data center infrastructure management (DCIM). Earlier this year, the company acquired Lee Technologies, a North American service provider for data centers, and unveiled a modular power and cooling architecture for data centers.
To be sure, Schneider is building a global portfolio for energy management services and smart grid solutions. Also this year, the company acquired sustainability services company Summit Energy Services Inc. for $268 million and smart grid provider Telvent for $2 billion to target "smart cities" in energy and water management, transportation, and building efficiency.
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