Schneider Electric, a global leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, has announced a new offering titled “Industrial Automation Modernization as a Service.” The solution is designed to help industrial organizations modernize automation environments without disrupting ongoing production, addressing long-standing challenges tied to legacy systems, cybersecurity, workforce shortages, and rising operational complexity.
Industrial sectors today face mounting pressure to upgrade outdated control systems that were never designed for cloud-native operations, AI integration, or modern cybersecurity frameworks. Many organizations remain locked into proprietary environments that limit flexibility and create high long-term costs. Schneider Electric’s new service model addresses this gap by enabling incremental modernization, allowing businesses to retain existing infrastructure while progressively adopting software-defined automation.
Legacy industrial environments are increasingly difficult to maintain as demand grows for real-time data, AI-driven optimization, and secure connected operations. Schneider Electric highlights that traditional modernization approaches often require large-scale replacements that introduce operational risk and financial strain. The new service model instead focuses on continuous transformation, allowing organizations to modernize at their own pace while minimizing disruption to production systems.
At the core of the offering is Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure™ Automation Expert, combined with HPE SimpliVity and broader HPE infrastructure technologies. This hybrid architecture provides a resilient and secure foundation for industrial workloads, supporting both on-site and cloud-based deployments. The system enables centralized governance of automation software while maintaining operational continuity across distributed environments.
The Industrial Automation Modernization as a Service model is designed to deliver measurable operational improvements. Organizations can convert traditional capital expenditure into predictable operating costs, scale automation across multiple facilities without proportional increases in workforce, and accelerate deployment timelines through standardized configurations. The approach also emphasizes cybersecurity consistency across sites and energy optimization through AI-driven systems.
A defining aspect of the solution is its alignment with open standards, particularly IEC 61499 and initiatives supported by UniversalAutomation.org. This approach reduces vendor lock-in by enabling interoperability across hardware and software environments. It allows industrial operators to upgrade systems incrementally and maintain flexibility in vendor selection without requiring major system redesigns.
The combined solution is being showcased at Automate 2026 in Chicago and has also been demonstrated alongside HPE’s integrated infrastructure at HPE Discover 2026. The deployment highlights how unified OT and IT systems can operate under a single governance model while supporting modern industrial workloads.
Schneider Electric proposes a phased adoption model beginning with advisory workshops to assess existing automation landscapes. Organizations can then identify high-impact sites for early deployment and validate results through pilot implementations, such as industrial cooling or data center applications, before expanding at scale.
Schneider Electric positions this offering as a shift in how industrial automation is funded, deployed, and continuously improved, moving toward a more flexible, service-based model aligned with the demands of AI-driven and digitally connected industrial operations.
Schneider Electric is a global energy technology leader, driving efficiency and sustainability by electrifying, automating, and digitalizing industries, businesses, and homes. Its technologies enable buildings, data centers, factories, infrastructure, and grids to operate as open, interconnected ecosystems, enhancing performance, resilience, and sustainability. The portfolio includes intelligent devices, software-defined architectures, AI-powered systems, digital services, and expert advisory.
With 160,000 employees and one million partners in over 100 countries, Schneider Electric is consistently ranked among the world's most sustainable companies.
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