Equinix and Schneider Electric have added the colocation company's Italian and German data centers to the energy management, procurement and sustainability services contract between the two.

The new agreement means Schneider now provides its energy and sustainability services to Equinix in all deregulated-energy markets the data center company operates in. The companies have also extended the services agreement, which includes 110 Equinix facilities around the world, until 2016.

Steve Wilhite, senior VP of professional services at Schneider, said the company was the only one to be able to work with customers on both the supply and demand side of energy consumed by data centers. “By working with a global client like Equinix, we saw the opportunity to offer new approaches to energy procurement, which would be able to provide their company significant cost savings,” he said.

The approach enables Equinix to manage its power spend like a natural-gas hedging program by locking a percentage of its cost in different layers as advantageous market conditions occur.

Schneider's services in this category include:

 - Full service energy management and procurement

 - Utility bill management

 - Comprehensive Green House Gas emissions reporting

 - Monthly electric variance reporting

 - Resource Advisor energy management platform

 - Annual budgeting

 - Corporate-wide risk management