Webcast: How digitization is reshaping power & cooling design priorities for engineers and consultants

This audio was created using Microsoft Azure Speech Services

The closely intertwined trends of digitization and the Internet of Things have created a “connected world” of equipment, sensors, and systems across industries that elevates the importance of power protection and cooling considerations when designing infrastructure, according to a new audio webcast available here.

The webcast titled, “The Importance of Power & Cooling Systems in a Digitized World,” was recently presented by Perkins Liu, a senior product manager for data center solutions, APC by Schneider Electric. In his presentation, Liu noted that digitization is changing the way that people in industry, as well as consultants and design engineers responsible for systems and buildings, need to think about infrastructure.

“Due to the increasing trend of digitization, everything around us is no longer isolated, but well connected,” said Liu. “What used to be non-critical equipment or applications are now extremely important elements of business continuity.”

As a result of digitization, noted Liu, “7 x 24 power reliability and the cooling required to keep the equipment up and running have become paramount.”

Consultants and engineers are adapting to digitization’s impact by changing the way they think about projects, said Liu. It has become extremely important that consultants identify digitized equipment which needs high availability, and determine the appropriate level of power protection and/or cooling control needed to ensure the desired level of availability and uninterrupted information flow from the asset.

For example, said Liu, in the healthcare sector, a medical lab might have several pieces of equipment that need power protection or a controlled environment. This power protection and cooling, said Liu, are “critical in this environment to keep the lab fully functional.”

The same holds true in other industries such as process control systems found in manufacturing plants, said Liu. Schneider Electric calls the products and services that protect these business critical systems “secure power” solutions. Failure to put in place such solutions can become a customer service issue if processes get disrupted or delayed, added Liu.

A challenging part of the digitization trend, said Liu, is that designers and consultants must address multiple priorities besides availability. For example, he said, industries are under pressure to reduce energy costs, ensure safety and business continuity, provide data security, and reduce the carbon footprint of buildings, assets, and operations.

Liu pointed out that Schneider Electric is well positioned to help consultants meet these challenges through modular solutions that are energy efficient and environmentally friendly, as well as through a range of educational resources and online tools such as a UPS selector that helps designers identify appropriate solutions.

All of these resources, said Liu, should help consultants, engineers and designers, and ultimately their clients, adapt to the changes being brought about by digitization.

“We are talking about a smart building, a smart factory, a smart everything,” said Liu. “[The] smart world is here.”

To find out more about online resources for consultants and engineers mentioned in the presentation, visit engineer.apc.com, or use the link here. To learn more about secure power solutions for key industries, visit the Web page on UPS solutions for industry, infrastructure, and marine.

Another Schneider Electric site—APC Partner Central—offers information of interest to partners and a tab with information on becoming a partner.