Schneider Electricannounced a strategic investment in product innovations to expand the company’s portfolio of power distribution solutions. Through a significant investment over the next four years in product development, Schneider Electric plans to attain what it calls " new levels of innovation, intelligence, safety and reliability to meet its customers expanding needs for energy efficient, secure and cost-effective operations." Schneider characterized the investment as being larger than the 4-5 percent of sales attributed to R&D in normal years.

“Today’s electrical systems have a wealth of data available that, when analyzed, interpreted and acted on, provide vast amounts of information to help organizations operate in simpler and smarter ways,” said Allen Breeze, Senior Vice President, Power Business, Schneider Electric. “At Schneider Electric, we have a legacy for delivering the highest-quality products that address our customers’ needs and help establish safe operations. We’re committed to not only delivering on these needs today, but offering the most advanced products and solutions in the market that will help customers drive value out of their infrastructure investments and continue to innovate for many years.”

Schneider Electric is expanding on its breadth of products by adding more intelligence through metering and monitoring capabilities; remote management for anytime, anywhere access; and advanced diagnostics for better visibility of high energy consumers and planning for load shedding and other energy management decisions. Easily available to stakeholders throughout the organization in role-based formats, the intelligence allows for proactive, preventative and predictive maintenance and opportunities for increasing energy efficiency and controlling costs. New features will allow for greater protection from downtime, heighten safety for installers and users, and simplified offers for easier selection and coordination through pre-configured solutions and common platforms.