Schneider Electric Introduces Automation Modernization as a Service with HPE Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure

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• Open, software-defined automation by Schneider Electric, supported by HPE hybrid cloud infrastructure, enables industrial operators to modernize without disrupting production
• New "Industrial Automation Modernization as a Service" offering combines EcoStruxure™ Automation Expert with HPE SimpliVity hybrid cloud — shifting industrial automation from CapEx to OpEx and modernizing incrementally alongside existing PLC and DCS systems

Schneider Electric, the leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, announced "Industrial Automation Modernization as a Service", a new offering designed to help industrial organizations modernize automation environments without disrupting production. The offering combines Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure™ Automation Expert (EAE), services, and lifecycle expertise with HPE SimpliVity hybrid cloud infrastructure and software, providing a flexible, resilient foundation for software-defined automation.

Industrial organizations are under increasing pressure to modernize aging control systems, strengthen cybersecurity, address workforce shortages, and prepare for AI-driven operations. Yet many modernization initiatives remain constrained by proprietary architectures, operational risk, and the cost of large-scale infrastructure replacement. Schneider Electric's Industrial Automation Modernization as a Service addresses these challenges by enabling organizations to modernize incrementally, preserve existing investments, and adopt open, software-defined automation at their own pace.

The solution is powered by Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure Automation Expert and supported by HPE infrastructure technologies, including HPE SimpliVity, providing enterprise-grade reliability, data protection, and operational resilience for mission-critical industrial environments. The combined solution is being showcased this week at Automate 2026 in Chicago.

The urgency is real. Most industrial control systems were designed before cloud, AI, or modern cybersecurity frameworks existed. They lock organizations into single vendors, demand on-site specialists who are increasingly scarce, and create technical debt that makes every step toward modernization harder than it needs to be. Industrial companies lose an average of $11 million annually and large enterprises exceed $45 million per year — not from bad decisions, but from architectures that were never built to evolve. The answer is not a rip-and-replace program. It is a better model: automation capabilities delivered as a service, modernized continuously, and aligned to how operations actually run.

"For too long, industrial enterprises have been forced to choose between operational continuity and technological modernization. Together Schneider Electric and HPE are removing that trade-off entirely — giving customers a single, governed foundation to modernize at their own pace. But this is about more than technology. Moving from CapEx to OpEx for industrial automation is a fundamental mindset shift for the industry — one that changes how automation is funded, consumed, and continuously improved. No more big upfront commitments that start aging on day one. Instead, an always-current service aligned to real operational needs. The industrial world is on an irreversible path toward AI: generative, agentic, and increasingly physical AI embedded directly in robotics and machines. Getting there requires open, software-defined infrastructure built on enterprise-grade hybrid cloud, and that's exactly what Schneider Electric and HPE are delivering." — Gwenaelle Huet, Executive Vice President, Industrial Automation, Schneider Electric

What Industrial Operators Actually Get

Schneider Electric's Industrial Automation Modernization as a Service offering combines three complementary layers designed to simplify modernization and ongoing operations.

• Infrastructure Foundation: HPE compute, storage, and data protection technologies that provide the secure, resilient platform for mission-critical industrial workloads.
• Software and Control as a Service: open, software-defined automation that can be deployed, updated, and governed centrally, across any compatible hardware, without touching physical assets.
• People and Lifecycle Services: expert services spanning assessment, migration, managed operations, cybersecurity, and continuous optimization.

The result: organizations modernize incrementally alongside existing PLC and DCS infrastructure, preserve capital already deployed, and stop treating automation as a depreciating asset. Across all three service layers, the measurable business outcomes are consistent:

• CapEx → OpEx: Convert unpredictable capital expenditure into stable, consumption-based OpEx.
• Scale without scaling headcount: Standardize automation across every site from a single platform — with 70% of industrial companies already planning to virtualize automation by 2030.
• Faster time to value: Get to market 50% faster and cut commissioning time by up to 60% — through templated, repeatable deployments that new facilities inherit rather than re-engineer.
• Security and energy performance together: Unified cloud governance enforces consistent OT cybersecurity policy across all sites, while AI-driven optimization has demonstrated up to 40% energy reduction in intensive operations.
• No rip-and-replace: Adopt incrementally alongside existing PLC and DCS systems — preserving prior capital investment while establishing a foundation for long-term modernization at the organization's own pace.

A Breakthrough Delivery Model Built on Open Standards

What differentiates the offering is not only its capabilities, but the open standards on which it is built. Both Schneider Electric and HPE are active members of UniversalAutomation.org, the industry-led initiative that goes beyond virtualization — championing open, software-defined automation based on the IEC 61499 standard. This shared commitment means customers are never locked into a single vendor's roadmap or hardware generation: they can modernize incrementally, switch vendors without re-engineering, and adapt as technology evolves.

HPE delivers the integrated, secure infrastructure that ties the full stack together, ensuring operational data is available where it is needed — from edge to cloud. Whether control logic runs on-site at a remote facility, centrally in a private cloud, or distributed across both, the architecture maintains consistent governance, uptime, and application portability. No stitching together of disparate platforms. No internal specialists bridging IT governance and real-time OT execution. No trade-off between operational continuity and modern lifecycle management.

A working deployment with combined OT and IT workloads was publicly demonstrated at HPE Discover 2026 and is live at Automate 2026 this week.

"Industrial enterprises are facing the same pressures that transformed enterprise IT a decade ago — rising complexity, skills scarcity, and demand for real-time intelligence at scale. EcoStruxure Automation Expert running on HPE SimpliVity and HPE software solutions gives organizations the unified foundation they need to meet these challenges head-on, with the governance, flexibility, and resilience to sustain modernization over time." — Peter Groth, VP of OEM, Service Providers and Telcos, HPE

For organizations ready to begin, Schneider Electric offers a structured path to value: starting with a joint Digital Transformation Advisory workshop to assess the current automation landscape and define a modernization roadmap; identifying high-impact sites where the service model delivers the fastest operational and financial return; and launching a focused pilot in data center cooling or industrial automation to validate outcomes before broader rollout. Joint workshops and solution demonstrations are available now. Visit Schneider Electric booth #2257 at Automate 2026.