Company Announcement - Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, received a prestigious DatacenterDynamics Leaders EMEA Award in the Modular Deployment category for the state-of-the-art customized prefabricated data centre installed at Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain. The Award was made at an evening ceremony held at London’s Lancaster Hotel and hosted by television personality, Alexander Armstrong.

Receiving the Award, Fernando Villa, CIO for Sagrada Familia said, “The security of our IT operations is vital. To ensure adaptable and scalable infrastructure in a period of transformation meant we needed to think laterally. The Micro data centre supplied by Schneider Electric fully meets our requirements in terms of portability and adaptability with no inconvenience to tourists, construction work or the way we function as an active church. I am delighted with the Award!”

Hal Grant, Executive Vice-President, IT Business, Schneider Electric, said, “Since their launch, the DatacenterDynamics Leaders Awards have become the ‘Oscars’ of our industry. We’re very pleased therefore to receive this accolade - it is a great credit to the team of people who worked on this project both at Sagrada Familia and within Schneider Electric. The Award comes at a great time, as we are seeing increased interest for our Micro data centre solutions to meet emerging IoT and edge computing applications.”
The Schneider Electric integrated prefabricated data centre solution enables site operators to manage the church’s security and effectively control the millions of visitors that come to the site each year. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sagrada Família is the most visited tourist attraction in Barcelona.

To meet unique customer needs, Schneider Electric designed and manufactured a customised prefabricated data centre that can easily be moved when necessary. The facility requires minimal installation on site, preventing any disruption to tourists or the construction.

The module was delivered to site with racks, UPS, power distribution, cooling and management pre-installed and ready for deployment. The module enclosure was designed for durability and security, with electrical and mechanical connections that can be easily disconnected for mobility services for the data centre module and interior infrastructure components.