Schneider Electric, along with AVEVA and ETAP—leaders in energy management, industrial software and power system engineering—has officially joined the Alliance for OpenUSD (Universal Scene Description). By entering this global consortium, the three companies stand alongside pioneering members such as NVIDIA, Pixar, Adobe and Autodesk to help shape the future of interoperable digital twins and simulation-ready 3D technologies. The announcement was made at Schneider Electric’s Innovation Summit North America in Las Vegas, which brought together more than 2,500 leaders focused on building a smarter, more resilient energy landscape.
This move underscores the companies’ shared commitment to championing open standards for industrial simulation, collaborative engineering and AI-driven infrastructure. OpenUSD serves as a powerful, extensible framework that enables different software platforms and data formats to work together seamlessly—critical for developing advanced virtual environments and accelerating industrial digital transformation.
By joining the Alliance, Schneider Electric, AVEVA and ETAP strengthen their collaboration with NVIDIA to support scalable, real-time, physically accurate digital twins capable of representing data centers, manufacturing sites, buildings and next-generation AI infrastructure. Many enterprises are already adopting NVIDIA Omniverse tools to design and simulate complex projects, digitize workflows, and engineer systems for higher performance, efficiency and sustainability.
The three companies are accelerating open innovation by embracing OpenUSD as a unified standard, laying the foundation for more cohesive and intelligent simulation ecosystems. Their collaboration with NVIDIA is centered on developing shared frameworks and digital environments that can support the next generation of industrial digital twins. By aligning their technologies and platforms, they aim to make complex simulation workflows more consistent, scalable and adaptable across industries.
A key area of focus is the creation of SimReady assets—highly interoperable, simulation-ready models representing power systems, cooling units and other essential infrastructure components. These standardized digital elements are designed to integrate seamlessly into virtual environments built on NVIDIA Omniverse, enabling more accurate modelling of real-world industrial systems. This approach helps companies reduce duplicated engineering work and improves the fidelity of their simulation results.
The partnership also seeks to enable unified digital twin collaboration across a wide range of sectors. By bringing together Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure platform with the industrial strengths of AVEVA and the electrical design precision of ETAP, the collaboration makes it possible to build joint visualizations of critical infrastructure. These digital twins can represent everything from data centers and power grids to factories, plants and commercial buildings, supporting deeper cross-domain insights that are typically difficult to achieve with siloed tools.
Another major objective is to speed up the rollout of AI infrastructure, which is increasingly dependent on large-scale, power-intensive facilities. Leveraging NVIDIA’s Omniverse DSX Blueprint and its extensive libraries, the companies can co-design gigawatt-scale AI factories with higher confidence and lower risk. These advanced planning tools allow for testing layouts, validating workflows and optimizing energy use long before construction begins, shortening overall project timelines.
Together, these initiatives represent a forward-looking effort to modernize how industries design, build and manage their most complex systems. By combining open standards, powerful simulation platforms and deep domain expertise, the collaboration aims to redefine how digital twins support the growth of AI-ready infrastructure worldwide.
Schneider Electric’s SimReady asset portfolio, combined with NVIDIA Omniverse integration, allows customers in manufacturing, data centers, process plants and other industries to generate detailed simulations that improve design accuracy, sustainability and operational efficiency. Digital twin adoption is helping organizations reduce energy consumption, enhance resiliency and design systems capable of meeting soaring AI-driven workloads. For example, digital twin models allow data center operators to simulate heat flow, power distribution and cooling dynamics before construction or upgrades—helping optimise energy use and increase reliability.
Jim Simonelli, Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer for Data Centers at Schneider Electric, noted “OpenUSD represents far more than a format—it’s a shared foundation that connects industries. Joining the Alliance strengthens our ability to collaborate, innovate and accelerate the development of intelligent, sustainable AI infrastructure.”
Rev Lebaredian, Vice President of Omniverse and simulation technology at NVIDIA, added “To design and operate next-generation systems like AI factories, industries require a simulation-ready digital foundation. Schneider Electric’s deep expertise in energy systems, hardware and software.”
Schneider Electric is a global leader in energy management and automation, focused on boosting efficiency and sustainability by advancing electrification, automation, and digital transformation across industries, businesses, and homes. Its technologies enable buildings, data centers, factories, infrastructure, and power grids to function as integrated, intelligent ecosystems that enhance reliability, performance, and environmental responsibility. The company’s broad portfolio spans smart devices, software-driven architectures, AI-enabled systems, digital services, and strategic consulting. With a workforce of 160,000 people and a network of over 1 million partners in more than 100 countries, Schneider Electric is consistently recognized as one of the world’s most sustainable companies.
AVEVA is a leading global industrial software provider that empowers organizations to use their resources responsibly and operate with greater intelligence. Its secure industrial cloud platform and connected applications help businesses harness data, improve collaboration across value chains, and optimize performance. More than 20,000 organizations across over 100 countries depend on AVEVA to support essential sectors ranging from energy and food to pharmaceuticals and infrastructure. By delivering trusted information enriched with AI-driven insights, AVEVA enables teams to operate efficiently, innovate faster, and scale sustainably. Named among the world’s most innovative companies, AVEVA draws on the expertise of over 6,400 employees, 5,000 partners, and 5,700 certified developers. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with a global operational footprint.
ETAP develops industry-leading software solutions dedicated to electrical power systems, covering every stage from design and engineering to operation and maintenance. Its unified electrical digital twin platform provides a seamless user experience, leveraging cloud-based technologies to ensure secure and accessible tools for engineers, designers, and operators—supporting digital energy transformation even in highly regulated environments. More than 20,000 enterprises worldwide rely on ETAP to maximize efficiency, reliability, and sustainability across utilities, infrastructure, industrial operations, and building systems. With over 38 years of expertise, a team of more than 1,000 professionals, and a strong global user community, ETAP continues to deliver innovation and excellence. The company is headquartered in Irvine, California, with regional offices worldwide to support local customers.
