As industries move at an unprecedented speed toward edge computing, one thing is abundantly clear — near-constant availability of IT systems, predictable performance and power efficiency is absolutely critical to support edge deployments built from the ground up to drive modern, latency-sensitive applications. This rapid pace of edge innovation is accompanied by widely distributed physical IT infrastructure — consisting of fleets of uninterruptible power systems (UPSs), power distribution units (PDUs) and other crucial environmental devices — a critical and overlooked layer in IT operations.
Plus, as the edge equipment footprint grows, so do the power requirements. According to the State of the Edge 2020: A Market and Ecosystem Report for Edge Computing, the global power footprint of the edge IT and data center facilities is estimated to hit 102 thousand megawatts (MW) by 2028.1 This projection for soaring energy demand underscores the speed and scale of tech innovation and evolution at the edge compared to data centers. However, the big jump in edge power footprint projected stands in stark contrast to a comprehensive 2020 study, Recalibrating Global Data Center Energy-Use Estimates published in Science journal which found that global data center energy consumption totaled 205 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2018 or around 1% of global electricity consumption.2
While the studies present a different picture, the trends clearly indicate an exponential growth in edge infrastructure. But distributed edge deployments spread over multiple geographic locations come with additional challenges that have further intensified in the pandemic era. IT budgets are not expanding enough to handle ever-expanding edge perimeters. Then there is a shortage of skilled IT professionals to manage edge workloads, close the edge performance gap efficiently, and keep up with ever-growing physical security requirements.
This is why organizations should turn to MSPs to manage their edge computing environments. By outsourcing edge services to solution providers, IT decision makers (ITDMs) can gain access to a wide range of expertise for monitoring and maintaining edge equipment. More importantly, buying in support would enable them to build a highly reliable and stable physical infrastructure layer, eliminate downtime risks and ensure operational efficiency without burdening over-stretched IT teams. With the right service partner, you aren’t just sufficiently future-proofed but also have the flexibility and expertise to scale for future deployments.
Enter the Managed Service Provider (MSP)
Current market forces, such as increased investment in edge infrastructure — with over 50% being invested in edge ecosystems — have opened the door for solution providers to leverage intelligent power management solutions to boost revenues and gain a competitive advantage.3 As a result of this growth, we’ll see the rise of 7 million-plus edge-enabled locations within the next three years, predicts IDC’s Rick Villars, group vice president of worldwide research. IDC’s survey also aligns with the report from Allied Market Research, a market research firm that shows the global UPS market is expected to reach $9.4 billion by 2027.4
Contrast these high-growth numbers with this finding from a 2019 SolarWinds and The 2112 Group: despite the optimism around edge computing, only 27% of IT solution providers offer Managed Power Services.5 Considering the ubiquitous presence of UPSs, mission-critical to distributed IT architecture, one wonders how 73% of MSPs fail to recognize the potential of power monitoring and protection at the edge to grow their business.
Forward-thinking MSPs, however, will recognize this huge untapped opportunity to increase monthly recurring revenue and profitability. They can now utilize industry-leading solutions to monitor and service critical IT power in edge computing and distributed IT environments as part of their larger remote service offerings extended to the edge.
Three ways managed power services can help IT solution providers increase profits:
1. Address the dual costs of power-related downtime
Power incidents that result in downtime are the worst-case scenario for both MSPs and their customers. What’s more disastrous is if critical equipment such as UPSs housed under adverse operating conditions (think excessive heat/temperature) fail. Over time, this can shorten device lifespan and availability during an outage and negatively affect the edge power protection strategy. In addition, left unchecked, UPSs designed to protect data and IT equipment such as servers and storage gear from power problems will fail to safeguard downstream hardware devices and may lead to the shutdown of servers.
Additionally, power-related downtime is costly for businesses of all sizes. According to the Ponemon Institute, Cost of Data Center Outage 2016 report, the average cost of that downtime is $8,850 a minute.6 While the numbers are not staggeringly high for small to midsize businesses (SMBs), IT outages can result in lost revenue and productivity and affect competitiveness. A widely-cited IDC study found that about 80% of SMBs suffered costs ranging from $82,200 to $256,000 for a single event.7 This could cost the SMB as much as $137 to $427 per minute. Meanwhile, the cost of supporting these types of disruptive events adds up to $8,350Opens a new window a year for the MSP.8
This includes the cost for remote support via Network Operations Center and the on-site support by authorized service technicians. That’s why remote intelligent power monitoring is so critical for both parties. For the MSP, it brings visibility into their customers’ power environments and provides data-driven analysis into predictable performance and maintenance issues. For the customer, it means peace of mind. By proactively monitoring the distributed UPS architecture across multiple locations, MSPs can help organizations protect critical electronic systems.
2. Drive optimal business outcomes in unpredictable edge environment
In the decentralized work era, the most important goal for MSPs and their customer’s technology leadership is to plan for a disaster and build edge architecture with redundancy in mind to address all potential points of failure. To that end, solution providers need to add a layer of resilience to drive continuous power for mission-critical edge applications and guarantee equipment uptime.
A lot is at stake at the edge. Hence, performance-conscious MSPs look to high-end UPS fleets such as APC Smart-UPSOpens a new window power protection devices from Schneider Electric that can provide extended runtimes to keep business-critical edge applications up and running at all times. In the case of an outage, MSPs can ensure longer runtime with external battery packs, keeping critical hardware functional and future-proofing edge sites from UPS failures. Furthermore, by switching to lithium-ion UPS batteries, solution providers can take risks out of the edge strategy with hardware purpose-built for harsh, demanding and space-constrained edge environments.
For example, the newly launched lithium-powered APC Smart-UPS UltraOpens a new window product line is the lightest, smallest and most powerful single-phase 3kW UPS and occupies a smaller footprint than other competing products. With 3x longer battery performanceOpens a new window , MSPs can now effectively protect critical edge operations across distributed sites even with limited IT staff. That would also make scaling edge pilots with lightweight, compact lithium UPS fleets easy for external IT partners.
Besides extended lifespan, there are cost benefits too. Compared to lead-acid battery-powered UPSs, lithium-ion UPSs significantly eliminate the refresh challenges and provide longer service life, in turn helping solution providers save costs spent on maintenance and site visits.
By utilizing Schneider Electric and APC’s intelligent power protection products, solution providers can build trust with customers and help them achieve optimal business outcomes. The APC flagship brand is also supported by a suite of 24×7 remote monitoring and management offerings that can act as a pathway to help MSPs go beyond hardware and add value through cloud-based software tools.
3. Capture revenue opportunities with dispatch services
Distributed edge sites aren’t always budgeted for unplanned maintenance or part replacement costs. Because these locations are remote, the costs of sending trained technical support personnel for emergency repair can balloon OpEx for the MSP and extend downtime for the customer. In decentralized work environments, a significant value-add feature that strongly appeals to MSPs and customers is on-site servicing of UPS products to minimize business interruption.
With this comprehensive suite of services, MSPs can access Schneider Electric’s technical support and resources, advance their field technicians’ troubleshooting capabilities, get trained on specific UPS modules, and access latest product kits to deliver the highest level of performance at all times. Savvy solution providers can also extend their service arm with EcoStruxure IT Expert for PartnersOpens a new window with Dispatch servicesOpens a new window . MSPs with limited field technicians can leverage Schneider Electric’s Dispatch servicesOpens a new window to troubleshoot critical power issues and reduce mean time to repair with easy access to the right OEM parts. All in all, these services allow you, as the managed solutions provider, to drive maximum cost-effectiveness for customers and capture untapped revenue that your competitors may be missing.
Use EcoStruxureIT Expert & Digital Services to Monitor and Manage Your Customers
With organizations expanding their IT estates into remote edge locations and so few MSPs providing power monitoring, there’s no doubt that opportunity exists for those IT solutions providers willing to seize it. As demand for localized data processing increases, there is a greater need to power-proof edge infrastructures. By adding a managed power suite in the service level agreement (SLA), MSPs can help break-fix clients move beyond reactive maintenance to predictive, data-driven models, extend the lifespan of critical power protection equipment and drive maximum cost-effectiveness for customers, especially as their edge deployments grow.
Schneider Electric’s Edge Software & Digital Services ProgramOpens a new window — the one-stop shop for managed power services — enables IT solution providers to bundle remote power monitoring and on-site support to their premium service offerings and create additional streams of revenue.
Additionally, MSPs that offer a per-device pricing model can now include power management devices into their node count, improving competitiveness and margins. Plus, to help valued-added resellers (VARs) and MSPs boost bottom lines, Schneider Electric has rolled out additional incentives such as lifecycle rebatesOpens a new window . This financial benefit allows partners to earn up to four times greater rewards than offered by traditional hardware rebates.
An Award-Winning Partner Program to Support MSP Growth
Schneider Electric’s Managed Power Service, part of its award-winning channel partner program, allows IT solution providers to grow and build recurring revenue streams with EcoStruxure IT Software & Digital Services.
Here’s how MSPs can build strategic advantage with EcoStruxure IT Software & Digital Services:
1. Build recurrent revenue streams with remote monitoring and management (RMM) and hardware refreshes
EcoStruxure IT Expert, Schneider Electric’s vendor-neutral software is a multi-tenant platform that gives MSPs the second pair of eyes and greater visibility into the health of their power infrastructure through a single console. The cloud-based pay-as-you-go software leverages data retrieved from thousands of customer sites across the globe, allowing solution providers to compare their customer’s environment against established benchmarks of similar devices and gain even greater insights into the performance of power infrastructure. With the data captured from EcoStruxure IT Expert, solution providers can remedy issues before they escalate and drive uptime in real-world environments. In addition, by proactively identifying equipment failures before they occur, they can go beyond critical repairs to predictive, routine maintenance and product upgrades, boosting profitability in a highly competitive market.
2. Position yourself as a trusted, strategic advisor
The edge infrastructure, shaped by emerging use cases, is continuously evolving. There are other business drivers at play here — the rise in technologies like intelligent automation and analytics is paving the way for reliable, resilient, and next-gen architecture. As new edge applications are developed, ITDMs recognize the need for mature solutions and trusted solution providers to realize the ROI of edge investments. Without a managed service provider, organizations might feel growing pains in driving predictive maintenance and energy efficiency (a top priority for ITDMs) and optimizing costs. By delivering actionable insight into long-term planning of power demands, high-growth MSPs can position themselves as strategic advisors and help customers sustain anticipated returns on edge investments.
3. Support to build your managed power services practice
Aside from the obvious revenue potential of the managed power services opportunity, Schneider Electric’s Edge Software & Digital Services Program provides financial incentives, attractive rebates, and the enablement and support MSPs need to build a robust Managed Power Services practice.
There’s a good chance your IT personnel are more proficient in addressing server problems than power management. For Schneider Electric partners, that isn’t a problem. With the company’s technical support and experts, your technicians receive the training to help brand your business as ‘Schneider Electric Certified.’
The Path Forward
In a cloud-first world, trusted and powerful monitoring tools and digital services from Schneider Electric can help IT solution providers rise to the challenge and reduce the complexity at the edge with innovative solutions. Whether you choose the core software-only approach (Ecostruxure IT) or leverage the add-on dispatch solution with Schneider Electric’s Manager Power Services, you are well-positioned to solve your customers’ most critical power management issues, enhance your margins and boost the profitability of your practice.
To learn how to get started with Ecostruxure IT Expert, click hereOpens a new window .
Sources:
1 State of the Edge 2020: A Market and Ecosystem Report for Edge ComputingOpens a new window
2 Recalibrating Global Data Center Energy-Use Estimates, by Eric Masanet, Arman Shehabi, Nuoa Lei, Sarah Smith, Jonathan Koomey, Science Magazine, 2020Opens a new window
3 Cloud And Edge Computing Are Key To ‘Next Normal’: IDC Cloud and Edge Computing are Key by CRN, 2020Opens a new window
4 Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) System Market to Reach $9.4 Bn, Globally by 2027 : Allied Market Research, 2021Opens a new window
5 2019 Trends in North American Managed Service: A Special Report by SolarWinds and The 2112 GroupOpens a new window
6 The High Cost of Downtime: Wireless WatchdogsOpens a new window
7 Carbonite.com Blog: “Downtime Costs Small Businesses Up To $427 Per Minute†, 2015Opens a new window
8 Expand Your Reach and Maximize Your Efficiencies Across Edge Environments by Schneider ElectricOpens a new window