November 2012
By Bill Lydon, Editor
The Schneider Electric annual update event with 45 editors and industry analysts was held in Chicago October 23, 2012. Jeff Drees, U.S. Country President, emphasized that Schneider Electric made a big bet around energy management and is now making a bit bet around software, centered on their StruxureWare™ Software. He discussed the big transformation Schneider Electric has been making by doubling the business since 2006.
Highlights include 39% of sales in new economies and 37% of business is solutions compared to 20% five years ago. Drees noted that in the past Schneider Electric was a conglomeration of many companies with 120 Brands. “Today we have 10 brands,” said Drees. Schneider’s scope of applications includes Smart Grid, building controls, industrial control, and cities initiatives – all of which help customers achieve greater efficiencies.
In the electrical energy business, Drees discussed how they think about the Smart Grid as simple blocks:
- Flexible Distribution – Using automation to better manage and avoid the need for new generation capacity.
- Smart Generation – Renewables are growing and putting a strain on the grid requiring automation to manage.
- Efficient Enterprise – Monitoring and analyzing energy to identify and justify improvements.
- Efficient Home – Pursuing energy management for homes in new innovative ways.
- Demand Side Management – Schneider Electric wants to be the outsourced energy manager for customers negotiating the best pricing and applying control methods to save energy.
In the infrastructure business, Drees referred to Schneider Electric as a disrupter that thinks differently than competitors. In the industrial automation business, he called out water, mining, food & beverage as key vertical applications where Schneider Electric views their competitors as underserving the needs of customers.
Drees noted that 80% of sales are through independent sales channels today. However, the new infrastructure opportunities require high level consultative selling with direct Schneider Electric employees. He expects consulting and professional services to grow at a rate greater than product sales.
Schneider Electric’s big software bet is centered on StruxureWare Software - a platform and suite of applications between automation and enterprise computing. Colette Munro, Vice President of Software Platforms, described Schneider Electric’s strategy to integrate all systems into the StruxureWare platform, starting with user interface and data interface standardization across all products. The goal is to make it easy for people to integrate Schneider Electric products with this software platform. Also, there are many silos of information in various computer systems that can be aggregated and provided for analytics. Munro summarized that StruxureWare bridges the gap between IT and other systems.
Munro went on to describe the StruxureWare Web Services Standard that Schneider Electric created to integrate applications and systems into their software architecture. She stated that it is very hard to add the context for devices located below the software layer, using the example of a Schneider Electric power meter. The meter exports an XML file that is imported into StruxureWare. A complete definition of the device is created in StruxureWare including its Modbus address, physical location, and power feed connection.
Munro foresees StruxureWare incorporating analytics, rules engines, and regression analysis to leverage data and improve operations and efficiencies. She noted that at the real-time device level, it is very hard to do a lot of analytics because the data doesn’t have much context.
StruxureWare will be sold directly by Schneider Electric and through certified system integrators with the proper training.
Colette Munro said the reason Schneider Electric created StruxureWare Web Services is because existing web services are not sufficient, including oBIX, OPC UA, and BACnet Web services.
Schneider Electric is also studying and developing roadmaps to embed web services and energy communications in end devices.
