Schneider Electric is building on its StruxureWare Data Centers Operations Suite using Cicso tools to better guide the allocation or server resources, allowing for faster reaction to a power failure and to better allocate cabling for a reduction in installation costs.

It put these new ‘proof of concept’ solutions on display today at Cisco Live, being held in London.

Schneider Electric already has a partnership with Cisco EnergyWise for StruxureWare, through the Schneider Electric Torana Application Server to help manage networked and IT assets in distributed offices, according to Schneider Electric VP of Enterprise Software Soeren Brogaard Jensen.

He said the new solutions will “better bridge the gap” between customer’s IT functions and facilities, “improving their operations, sustainability and the comfort of their buildings”.

Schneider plans to incorporate Cisco UCS Manager into its StruxureWare Data Center Operations Suite to provide real-time physical capacity constraints to server allocation for the automatic capping of power, for individual zones or an entire location.

“This will help ensure the compatibility of both the power and cooling load to rack and data center capacity for gaining optimal utilization of the data center’s physical infrastructure while eliminating the risk of tripped breakers and reducing over-provisioning,” Schneider Electric said.

It will also help with the tracking of assets in real-time, including virtual machines, and ensure applications are running in a safe environment.

Cisco’s Unified Communications Manager is also being used alongside Schneider’s Electric PowerChute Network Shutdown to allow for a “graceful” shutdown of the Cisco UCM in the event of a power failure to prevent data corruption and enable a safe and quick reboot.

The network also gets a look in with Cisco EnergyWise also being used as a single point of control for networked devices, while Schneider Electric’s Convergent Building Infrastructure Solution is being used to reduce cabling requirements in the data center by mapping out the best deployment for the network using a simplified design.

“This allows capital expenditures on IT infrastructure to be reduced by up to 22%, minimizes the required telecom space by up to a third and enables operational savings of up to 30% on subsequent moves, additions and change, “Schneider Electric said.

These latest announcements are part of a growing solution being developed by Schneider Electric for the Data Center Infrastructure Management space.

In September last year, it added new modules for StruxureWare Operations 7.0 including the ability to drill down to any data center location globally.

You can see more on the evolution of StruxureWare here and see our blogger Julius Neudorder’s view on the suite here.