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IBM and Schneider Electric Team to Make Buildings Smarter

by Edvard

Rueil-Malmaison (France), October 1, 2010 IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Schneider Electric today announced a new smarter buildings solution to improve energy perf ormance f or buildings across an organization. This is critical as buildings worldwide today consume 42 percent of all electricity, and by 2025, are projected to be the largest emitters of greenhouse gas emissions on the planet. Together, IBM and Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management, are helping organizations reduce energy operating costs up to 30 percent as well as realize environmental responsibility goals through active energy management practices. The new IBM and Schneider Electric smarter buildings solution also enables the benef its of connectivity to the smart grid f or electric utility demand response programs. For example, using IBM and Schneiders energy optimization technologies, Bryant University in Smithf ield, Rhode Island has seen a 15 percent reduction in energy consumption in its data center, with similar savings expected campus wide across 50 buildings on 428 acres. What began as the IT initiative to create an energyef f icient data center has extended into collaboration between the universitys IT and f acilities team to deliver greater insight and control of energy consumption across the campus, f urther reducing the universitys carbon f ootprint. Having the ability to look across both IT and facilities is operationally, tactically and strategically important to the Bryant University, said Art Gloster, vice president and CIO of Bryant University. The maturity of our converged campus network combined with energy management from IBM and Schneider Electric allows our IT and Facilities teams to work together to monitor energy consumption and reduce operational costs. Todays announcement builds on a decade strong relationship between IBM and Schneider Electric f or building energy ef f icient data centers. Now available f or buildings across industries including schools and universities, hospitals, hotels and government f acilities, the new converged of f ering will help organizations monitor and reduce energy use to f ree-up capital, to sustain building ef f iciency through proactive maintenance programs, and reduce the incidence and costs of equipment f ailures.

In addition, building occupants can realize peak productivity benef its by working in high perf ormance building environmentsones that recognize building systems such as ef f icient lighting and indoor air quality, are interdependent but f unction with the whole building in mind, including the people that occupy them. Energy is the largest controllable operating expense in a building and companies need to address it more systematically, said Chris Davis, vice president, Global Strategic Alliances, Schneider Electric Buildings Business. Through our partnership with IBM, we can help more businesses capture and analyze their buildings data to achieve greater energy efficiency and reduce operating costs. Schneider Electrics building management solutions, including Andover Continuum, help monitor and control building systems heating, ventilation, air conditioning, humidity, lighting, access control, video and physical security across one or more f acilities, providing up to a 30 percent reduction in overall energy use. When combined with IBM solutions such as IBM Green Sigma analytics, IBM Tivoli Monitoring f or Energy Management, IBM Business Services Manager, and IBM Maximo Asset Management f or Energy Optimization, organizations are provided with intelligent data to make better decisions and actions about energy use. The joint of f ering will address the f ollowing building management areas: Energy Management: Building management solutions and services provide continuous improvement and enable an ef f icient enterprise to make energy saf e, reliable, ef f icient, productive and green. When combined with IBM business analytics sof tware, the of f ering will provide building owners, operators and tenants with inf ormation to continuously reduce energy consumption and waste in real-time. Building Systems Management: Schneider Electrics solutions combined with IBM Maximo asset management enables f acility managers to collect and share vast amounts of f acility data with business decision makers to make inf ormed decisions with tangible savings that can be measured. By combining data f rom integrated HVAC, power, lighting and electrical distribution systems with security, IT and telecommunications, organizations will reap signif icant cost and operational savings. Systems Integration and Enterprise Ef f iciency: Convergence of Schneider Electric building management systems and IBM sof tware reduces energy and operating costs to f ree up capital f or addressing other business needs, while providing visibility across systems to realize smarter buildings across the enterprise.

Theres an increasing convergence of IT and facilities management, said David Bartlett, Vice President, Industry Solutions, IBM Sof tware Group. Working together, IBM and Schneider Electric can address the growing need that C-level executives and facilities managers have to drive efficiency in all aspects of their operations. Through this relationship, we can bring our information technology expertise beyond the data center into facilities management. For more inf ormation about IBM, please visit: www.ibm.com/smarterplanet

About Schneider Electric

As a global specialist in energy management with operations in more than 100 countries, Schneider Electric of f ers integrated solutions across multiple market segments, including leadership positions in energy and inf rastructure, industrial processes, building automation, and data centres/networks, as well as a broad presence in residential applications. Focused on making energy saf e, reliable, and ef f icient, the companys 100,000+ employees achieved sales of more than 15.8 billion euros in 2009, through an active commitment to help individuals and organisations Make the most of their energy. www.schneider-electric.com Press Contact: Schneider Electric Vronique Roquet Montegon Phone: +33 (0)1 41 29 70 76 Fax : +33 (0)1 41 29 88 14