Schneider Electric & Compass Datacenters: Maximising Uptime

Compass Datacenters is realising a 40% reduction in on-site maintenance interventions and a 20% reduction in operating expenses (OPEX), thanks to using Schneider Electric EcoCare.

Gaining these data analytics in such a collaborative way enables Compass to meet rising data demands faster, whilst also being able to deliver accelerated time to market. Both companies are eager to use AI to transform the entire data centre facility lifecycle - which involves maximising uptime and reducing costs across the design and build, operation, maintenance and decommissioning phases.

Significantly, Schneider’s EcoCare next-generation service plans are enabling Compass to not only accelerate its speed of delivery, but also enable its end-user customers to grow faster and meet requirements for data processing, storage and delivery.

“We are extremely grateful for the unwavering support and unparalleled expertise that Schneider Electric has already provided in supplying us with prefabricated data centre power rooms,” says Chris Crosby, CEO at Compass Datacenters. 

“Our collaborative efforts will allow us to meet the increasing demands from our customers to deliver cutting-edge data centre solutions in an innovative manner.”

Modernising all aspects of the data centre

By transitioning from a calendar-based approach to maintenance and services, to a condition-based maintenance plan based on predictive analytics and AI, Compass says it is facing reductions in manual, on-site maintenance interventions and OPEX.

The company successfully made these savings by integrating sensors and gateway technologies, which were pre-commissioned at the factory level. This meant they were ready to be connected from day one to Schneider Electric’s IoT advanced analytics platform, which is monitored by its Connected Service Hub.

This can also enable the reduction of intrusive on-site maintenance activities.

Compass was an early adopter of Schneider Electric EcoCare next-generation services, whereby it uses AI and predictive analytics to significantly improve the industry’s approach to lifecycle services and maintenance. 

Whilst the data centre industry has undergone rapid transformation in recent years, there has been very little change to the way lifecycle services are delivered. When it comes to digital innovation, these services are critical to support operators in delivering the best service possible.

Services like predictive maintenance for example are not only hugely helpful for data centre operators to reduce planned and unplanned downtime, but it is also more cost-effective. Likewise, it can help to adopt a more condition-based servicing approach, which both companies here say helps to address continued workforce shortages and makes the industry much more proactive in its approach to servicing. 

For one thing, this has helped Schneider Electric support Compass’ transition, whilst also helping it to use proactive asset management for greater system reliability. 

“Schneider Electric has long-been committed to transforming industries through the power of collaboration and it’s clear that Compass Datacenters shares this same mindset,” says Pankaj Sharma, Executive Vice President, Secure Power & Data Centres and Global Services Businesses at Schneider Electric. 

“With the unique growth of data centres, one of the key challenges facing operators is the lack of skilled talent. To address this, the industry must change the way they manage electrical and cooling assets by adopting proactive asset management at-scale. Through our collaboration with Compass we are proving that dynamic analysis for multiple technology systems can deliver exceptional value and ROI.”

Executive insight

Data Centre Magazine caught up with Dr Luke Durcan, Director of Digital Services Innovation and System AI Commercial & IP Leader at Schneider Electric, at Data Centre World in London on 12th March 2025.

He shared: “Compass is an incredible client. They have a vision and they understand what we’re working on. They trust us to help co-innovate with them. 

“They trusted us to go do it and we invested to make sure that we could deliver.”

A significant part of Compass’ design concept involves building 1.2 megawatt power sensors, which are deployable at various locations. 

“As a result, they have embarked upon a pretty steep growth curve,” Luke says. “They share our vision about this idea of an unconditioned service contract. The industry is growing rapidly and we can’t afford to stick with traditional design.”

More broadly, Luke explains that the data centre industry is in the midst of a global transition, saying: “We’re in a bit of a watershed moment, we need more people and resources and broaden the appeal of the industry.

“The explosion of AI is an even stronger use case, which means keeping up from a services perspective is really important. We can’t get enough people.”

He adds: “The ability to look at the power, infrastructure and thermal infrastructure together means you’re equipped with plenty more insight and knowledge about how the system is going to perform.”

Looking ahead, Luke shares that using chillers on a large scale with liquid cooling and CDUs will need dedication to manage.

“Short cycle thermal issues are going to be a challenge for us all in the industry, so we've got to learn and use the date we’re given,” he says. 

“We cannot hypothesise. We need to support our clients in terms of deployment, but collectively, we need to grab more data.”

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