Partners See ‘Huge’ Schneider Electric AI Data Center, Edge Opportunity

‘A data center without power and cooling is useless,’ says Agilant Solutions Executive Vice President Mark Romanowski. ‘Schneider Electric is the glue.’

Mark Romanowski, executive vice president of Agilant Solutions, sees a “huge” opportunity to team with Schneider Electric to help his customers solve the perennial power and cooling problem in the AI era.

“A data center without power and cooling is useless,” said Romanowski in an interview this week with CRN at Schneider Electric’s North America Innovation Summit. “Schneider Electric is the glue.”

Schneider Electric’s critical role in helping deliver AI advances is driving growth and will continue to drive growth in Agilant’s Schneider Electric business, he said.

Romanowski is one of many partners attending the Innovation Summit in Las Vegas this week who is excited about the potential to drive big AI sales growth both in the data center and at the edge working hand in hand with Schneider Electric.

Agilant, for its part, has built out its own AI-based Technology Order Gateway (TOGa) platform to provide real-time insight and data analytics to help customers succeed in the AI era. “TOGa is our differentiator,” he said.

Rich King, a vice president at Graybar, a leading North America distributor of electrical, industrial, automation and connectivity products, also sees a bright future working with longtime partner Schneider Electric to drive the AI industrial revolution forward.

“With the explosion in technology and business with this new AI industrial revolution, when you can be partnered with someone like Schneider it really sets you above the rest,” said King. “We are learning to do more of that partnering together as this ecosystem grows. Graybar and Schneider are both in a good position to capitalize down the road. It’s just endless opportunities everywhere you go.”

King said he sees Schneider Electric’s continual innovation as a huge advantage to drive power and cooling benefits in the AI era. To that point, he said, Schneider’s acquisition of Motivair, an advanced liquid cooling innovator, is a big differentiator for customers. “They keep one-upping themselves and putting themselves in a leadership position in the market, which is what Graybar enjoys about our relationship with Schneider,” he said.

King, a 33-year technology distribution veteran, said that Schneider’s advancements with the grid, power and electrification are critical in making sure the AI momentum is not disrupted. “If the business just keeps growing the way it is, the growth potential is just something we’ve never seen before,” he said.

John Mazur, president of Aerico, one of Schneider Electric’s top data center partners, is already experiencing huge growth by teaming with Schneider Electric.

Aerico expects to double its Schneider Electric sales this year in the wake of the increased demand for AI data centers. That includes data centers with hundreds of EcoStruxure racks, generating massive power and cooling requirements

The gating factor to the AI data center buildout is the ability to bring the much-needed power into the facilities, said Mazur. “We can build it and supply the equipment, but you need to bring the raw power into the facility,” he said. “Now they are starting to look at alternatives like nuclear, solar and all other kinds of different avenues.”

Schneider Electric is stepping up to help customers get the appropriate power into the data center facilities, said Mazur. “They’ve always been a great resource for us,” he said.

The cooling side of the business has become more critical with the rise in the heat generated by massive rack deployments in AI data centers, said Mazur.

Mazur, a 20-year-plus industry veteran, said he has never seen an opportunity like AI. “This is huge,” he said. “This is something that we have never seen before in our market.”

Brad Bailleaux, vice president of sales for Lockstep Technology Group, a top Schneider Electric partner, said he is looking forward to participating in the massive AI data center buildout working closely with Schneider Electric.

“AI cannot continue without hundreds of data centers being built in the next five years,” he said. “In the next three to five years, we expect our Schneider Electric business to grow tenfold. It has to happen. We’re learning about what Schneider has to offer so we can be a one-stop shop for our customers.”

Bailleaux said Schneider Electric has done a good job staying ahead of the AI curve with power and cooling software solutions. That is helping fuel power managed services from Lockstep Technology Group, he said.

“We have monitoring in place with people 24x7 ready to fix your problem, whether it is edge or data center,” he said. “That’s growing every day.”

In fact, Bailleaux said, Lockstep Technology Group’s power managed services sales will be up about 20 percent this year with an expected 30 percent to 40 percent increase in 2026. “As an MSP we have to create a model that follows the software subscription path,” he said. “Everything is going to software.”