Schneider Electric's SimSci goes online

Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, has introduced SimSci Online, a new cloud software platform for the company’s process design, simulation, training and optimisation offerings. With this release, SimSci Online becomes the first process design and engineering software to be delivered as a service, Schneider Electric said.

According to the company, businesses are increasingly burdened to deploy and manage multiple versions of software applications in today’s high-demand environments – particularly in process engineering departments, engineering firms, and operating companies in the power, oil and gas, chemicals and mining, metals and minerals (MMM) industries. Yearly licensing fees for simulation software can be cost prohibitive for smaller companies that might not be constantly using the software on projects as they grow their business.

Schneider Electric’s SimSci Online provides access to the same high-quality simulation software as its on-premise solution, with the simple requirement of an Internet connection. As a cloud offering, SimSci Online allows for improved organisational efficiency, sustainability and connectivity at an attractive price point for improved return on investment. What results is greater availability for more employees.

SimSci Online charges only for usage time, which can be attractive for smaller companies that might not need constant access or want to pay an annual licensing fee. Benefits include:

 Accessibility anywhere and anytime with an Internet connection
 No system maintenance requirements from the client side and highly scalable to allow for additional users on demand
 IT maintenance overheads for updating are eliminated as the cloud version is always available for company and project needs

“With efficiency and connectivity being two differentiating factors in process engineering and
optimisation, too many of our customers are bogged down with managing multiple and disparate pieces of software,” said Tobias Scheele, SVP, Design, Simulation and Optimization Business, Schneider Electric. “By bringing our simulation capabilities to the cloud with SimSci Online, our users across industries, including the academic community of university students and researchers who want to use our simulation software anywhere and at any time, will benefit from having on-demand access to the SimSci tools they rely on daily.”

Schneider Electric will initially roll out SimSci Online as a platform, to then enable the process design and engineering portfolio to be delivered on the cloud. The first application to be launched will be SimSci DYNSIM Online, a comprehensive, dynamic process simulator that enables process yield improvement and a reduction of capital investment costs.

Schneider Electric earlier updated Wonderware Online, its cloud platform for collecting, visualising, and managing operational data across industrial operations. Wonderware Online, built on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, offers users a secure, easy to use solution that offers seamless convergence of operational and information technology (OT/IT) with security, discoverability, and extensibility all being native to the platform.

For example, Wonderware Online includes the Wonderware Online InSight Connector, a productivity tool that allows customers to link time-series data stored in Wonderware Online into Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Excel Online. This enables users to run custom formulas, perform ad hoc analysis and create Excel-based reports and charts. 

With the amount of data from low-cost sensors and smart devices increasing exponentially, industrial organisations are searching for solutions to take full advantage of the industrial Internet of Things, Schneider Electric said. Both end users and OEMs demand a secure software infrastructure with broad connectivity, including the MQTT protocol. Users require a system that is modular and extensible, can manage and analyse huge amounts of data, and unlock actionable insights for an increasingly mobile workforce. 

Customers typically use Wonderware Online to consolidate distributed data sources, contextualise that data through the use of advanced applications, and provide enterprise-wide access from anywhere on any device. The intuitive interface allows users to easily access intelligence to support smarter, faster business decisions. Moving data management capabilities to the cloud with Wonderware Online built on Microsoft Azure enables:

 Greater flexibility to access detailed, high-fidelity operational data while minimising IT burden and cost typically associated with deploying a traditional application

 Improved cybersecurity with Microsoft Azure secure data authorisation, authentication and encryption

 Enriched natural language search and navigation capabilities 

 Augmented intelligent newsfeed analytics, with out-of-the-box pattern detection technology that automatically highlights unusual data behaviour

 Accelerated feature updates and improved availability

“Wonderware Online is a modern, secure and cost-effective way to collect and visualise performance data on the fly, with minimal IT burden” said Michal Postula, Wonderware Online Product Manager, Schneider Electric. “With the help of Microsoft Azure, we provide an intelligent service that is open, scalable, and available globally anywhere, anytime.”

“At Microsoft, we understand the importance of uncovering actionable insights to continually improve business operations,” said Andrea Carl, Director, Commercial Communications, Microsoft. “We are pleased to see the Wonderware Online solution benefit our mutual customers, powered by the global scale, enterprise-grade security and high availability of Microsoft Azure.” 

Interested?

General Availability of SimSci DYNSIM Online is planned to be November 1, 2016, with other applications to follow in 2017.

Trial Wonderware Online. The Wonderware Online InSight Connector is available from the Microsoft Office 365 store.