Modernising Mission-Critical Data Centres in Live, Regulated Environments
Delivering resilience, security and efficiency without disruption
Across many regulated industries, organisations continue to rely on legacy on-premise data centres that were never designed for today’s density, energy pressures, cybersecurity threats, or sustainability targets. For environments supporting critical national infrastructure and essential services, downtime is simply not an option, any interruption has immediate operational, regulatory, and reputational consequences.
Over a two-year engagement, on365 partnered with a major UK critical infrastructure operator to modernise and optimise multiple highly secure on-premise data centre facilities, all while keeping them fully operational. This programme demonstrates how legacy environments can be transformed safely, securely, and incrementally, without compromising live services.
This approach is directly applicable to highly regulated, mission-critical sectors, including:
- Transportation and logistics
- Utilities and energy
- Healthcare
- Food & beverage
- Pharmaceuticals and life sciences
- Defence and secure government environments
In each of these sectors, data centre performance directly impacts public safety, operational continuity, and regulatory compliance.
The Challenge: Legacy Environments Under Modern Pressures
The facilities involved were established enterprise data centres with fixed layouts, constrained physical space, and legacy cooling and power architectures. Unlike greenfield builds, there was no opportunity to redesign from first principles.
Key challenges included:
- Working within constrained room layouts and aisle dimensions.
- Limited tolerance for shutdowns or intrusive works.
- Strict operational change control and security requirements.
- Increasing power density and thermal loads.
- Need for real-time visibility, cybersecurity assurance, and sustainability reporting.
All works had to be delivered in a live, highly critical environment, with zero impact to operational services.
A Phased, Risk-Managed Modernisation Strategy
Rather than attempting wholesale replacement, the programme focused on retrofitting modern infrastructure, intelligence, and control into the existing estate. The solution combined:
- Advanced DCIM and environmental monitoring for predictive insights.
- Secure, next-generation power distribution to support higher densities.
- Flexible thermal containment designed for legacy spaces.
- Detailed modelling and continuous optimisation of airflow and energy.
- Cyber-secure device management aligned to regulated environments.
This allowed improvements to be delivered incrementally, verified continuously, and adjusted safely as operational conditions evolved.
Targeted Technology, Measurable Value
on365 applied Schneider Electric solutions in highly specific ways, ensuring that every technology deployed delivered tangible business outcomes in a live, regulated environment:
Solution
EcoStruxure™ IT DCIM (Data Center Expert & IT Advisor)
Function / Deployment
On-premise monitoring, asset tracking, capacity planning, predictive alerts
Business Value Delivered
Real-time visibility across racks and rooms; proactive risk management; improved IT planning; trend analysis for operational and sustainability decisions
Solution
NetBotz™ Monitoring
Function / Deployment
Lithium-ion battery systems deployed per UPS
Business Value Delivered
Continuous monitoring of temperature, humidity, airflow, and environmental risk; integration of security and environmental data into a single operational view; reduced likelihood of unplanned incidents
Solution
NetShelter™ Rack PDU Advanced (11K Series)
Function / Deployment
Intelligent power distribution with metered-by-outlet and switched-by-outlet options
Business Value Delivered
Appliance-level energy visibility; accurate cost allocation; remote outlet switching for secure reboot/power sequencing; reduced need for site visits in sensitive areas
Solution
Network Management Card 3 (NMC3) & Secure NMC System
Function / Deployment
Cyber-secure device management for UPS and PDU devices
Business Value Delivered
IEC 62443-certified security; secure boot and encrypted communications; centralised firmware lifecycle management; role-based access control; reduced cybersecurity risk in live environments
Solution
NetShelter™ Next-Generation Aisle Containment
Function / Deployment
Cold-aisle containment retrofitted to legacy layouts
Business Value Delivered
Improved cooling efficiency; flexibility to accommodate irregular aisle widths and rack configurations; minimised disruption during installation
Solution
Additional IT Advisor CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) Module
Function / Deployment
Airflow and cooling modelling
Business Value Delivered
Accurate upfront modelling; rapid recalculation for layout changes; continuous optimisation; identification of energy reduction opportunities, risk mitigation in live environments
To deliver these capabilities in practice, a combination of Schneider’s DCIM, power, monitoring, and containment solutions were applied across the estate, each selected to meet specific operational and regulatory requirements, and each delivering measurable business value.
Environmental, security and asset monitoring:
- NetBotz™ monitoring deployed at rack, pod, and room level.
- Continuous monitoring of temperature, humidity, airflow, and environmental risk.
- Integration of security and environmental data into a single operational view.
DCIM platform integration:
- EcoStruxure™ IT Data Center Expert (DCE) for on-premise monitoring and alerting.
- EcoStruxure™ IT Advisor (ITA) for asset tracking, capacity planning, and risk management.
- Advanced reporting, trend analysis, and proactive alerting across the estate.
This provided operations teams with real-time visibility, predictive insights, and the ability to manage risk proactively rather than reactively.
Secure Power Distribution for Modern, Regulated Estates
Power distribution was modernised with Schneider Electric NetShelter™ Rack PDU Advanced (11K Series), in a mix of metered-by-outlet and switched-by-outlet configurations. The programme included the rollout of 400+ intelligent devices, representing a significant long-term investment in resilience, security, and efficiency.
Business value delivered:
- Per-outlet energy metering for appliance-level consumption analysis.
- Accurate cost allocation by system, stakeholder, or operational group.
- Improved planning for IT and network refresh programmes.
- Data-driven insights to support carbon reduction strategies.
- Remote outlet switching for secure reboot and power sequencing without physical access.
- By reducing the need for on-site interventions in sensitive areas, operational risk was significantly minimised.
Cybersecurity by Design
In regulated, on-premise environments, cybersecurity is as critical as physical resilience. A key element of the solution was the deployment of Schneider Electric’s Network Management Card 3 (NMC3) platform across UPS and PDU devices.
Secure NMC System highlights:
- Independently certified to IEC 62443-4-2 (Security Level 2).
- Secure development lifecycle certified to IEC 62443-4-1.
- Secure Boot with Root of Trust hardware validation.
- TLS 1.3 encrypted communications and 2048-bit key support.
- Role-based access control with multi-tier user permissions.
- Certificate Authority (CA) trusted authentication.
- Centralised firmware management through the Secure NMC System Tool.
With over 60% of infrastructure devices globally running outdated firmware, proactive device security was essential. The Secure NMC System enabled controlled, auditable, and simplified firmware lifecycle management, aligned to regulatory and internal security requirements, a critical capability for regulated environments.
Thermal Containment Retrofitted for Legacy Spaces
Cooling optimisation was delivered through Schneider Electric NetShelter™ Next-Generation Aisle Containment, deployed in a cold-aisle containment configuration tailored to the existing cooling topology and room layouts.
The solution leverages Schneider’s standard Next-Generation Containment components, which are field-adjustable on-site, allowing bespoke adaptation for irregular aisle widths, differing rack heights, and unique pod configurations, ensuring no two pods are identical, even within the same room.
Designed for legacy environments:
- Standardised components with on-site field fitting.
- Accommodation of uneven aisle widths within a single pod.
- Support for different rack heights and spacing.
- Ability to infill irregular gaps where no two rows were identical.
- Adaptability to non-standard layouts common in older facilities.
This flexibility allowed containment to be delivered without disruptive building works, ensuring live operations remained uninterrupted.
Intelligence First: DCIM, Visibility and Control
A core foundation of the programme was the deployment of Schneider Electric EcoStruxure™ IT DCIM solutions, fully retrofitted into two initial data centre facilities comprising approximately 120 and 80 racks respectively.
Modelling, Optimisation and Continuous Improvement
To complement physical changes, the programme incorporated IT Advisor: CFD (ITD CFD) software, enabling rapid airflow and cooling modelling.
Why this mattered:
- Full upfront modelling before any changes were implemented.
- Rapid recalculation when layouts, floor grilles, or equipment changed.
- Faster validation than traditional CFD methods.
- Reduced risk when working in live environments.
Cooling performance improvements were continuously monitored through the DCIM platform, enabling:
- Ongoing optimisation rather than one-off changes.
- Identification of energy reduction opportunities.
- Evidence-based decision making.
Sustainability Embedded Throughout
Sustainability was a core driver of the programme:
- Improved cooling efficiency through containment and airflow optimisation.
- Per-outlet energy visibility supporting carbon reduction initiatives.
- Higher operating temperature tolerance of next-generation PDUs.
- Use of Schneider Electric Green Premium™ certified products.
- Lifecycle and Scope 3 considerations through modernised infrastructure rather than full replacement.
These improvements supported both operational cost reduction and corporate sustainability objectives, making sustainability an integrated outcome rather than an afterthought.
Beyond Hyperscale: Engineered Solutions for Regulated Enterprises
While much of today’s data centre narrative focuses on hyperscale and AI-driven facilities, there is a significant and underserved market for secure, engineered, on-premise enterprise data centres operating in regulated environments.
on365 has been delivering solutions in this space for many years, modernising existing estates, optimising live environments, and delivering turnkey new builds where required. Recent projects include:
- Fully integrated healthcare data centre installations, including small-scale end-to-end turnkey solutions with full installation of UPS, racks, power, cooling, and software.
Example: a recent NHS project involved 12 x AR3350 racks (5 kW each), 2N modular power distribution, Galaxy VS 80 kW UPS with lithium-ion batteries, in-row DX cooling, EcoAisle containment, NetBotz monitoring, and full commissioning with heat load simulation. - Secure enterprise facilities for regulated industries, including modernisations at Loughborough University and Markerstudy Insurance Group, leveraging Schneider Electric EcoStruxure™ solutions to increase resilience, efficiency, and sustainability.
- End-to-end delivery of power, cooling, racks, monitoring, and software.
- Long-term partnerships backed by proven Schneider Electric technologies.
A Proven Model for Critical Environments
This programme demonstrates that even the most constrained, legacy on-premise data centres can be transformed safely, without disruption when modern technology, detailed planning, and disciplined execution are combined.
For organisations operating in highly regulated, mission-critical environments, this approach provides a clear pathway to:
- Improved resilience and availability.
- Stronger cybersecurity posture.
- Greater operational visibility.
- Measurable energy and carbon reduction.
- Confidence in working live, without compromise.
Supporting Resources
Technical papers and supporting documentation related to this project and the underlying Schneider Electric technologies.
White Paper
- How Modern DCIM Addresses CIO Management Challenges within Distributed, Hybrid IT Environments
- Cybersecurity Guidance for Data Center Power and Cooling Infrastructure Systems
- Why Data Centers Must Prioritize Environmental Sustainability: Four Key Drivers
- Recommended Inventory for Data Center Scope 3 GHG Emissions Reporting
- A Quantitative Comparison of UPS Monitoring and Servicing Approaches Across Edge Environments
- Improving Rack Cooling Performance Using Airflow Management™ Blanking Panels
- How Higher Chilled Water Temperature Can Improve Data Center Cooling System Efficiency
- The Unexpected Impact of Raising Data Center Temperatures
- Guidance for Calculation of Efficiency (PUE) in Data Centers
- Implementing Hot and Cold Air Containment in Existing Data Centers
- Energy Impact of Increased Server Inlet Temperature
- Impact of Hot and C old Aisle Containment on Data Center Temperature and Efficiency
