EfficiencyIT forms partnership with Michael Smith Switchgear

EfficiencyIT has formed a formal partnership with Michael Smith Switchgear (MSSL) a UK-based manufacturer of sustainable electrical control and distribution equipment. Designed to meet soaring demand for secure, scalable, and eco-conscious modular AI infrastructure in the UK and Europe, the alliance unites EfficiencyIT’s proven data centre engineering expertise with MSSL’s innovative switchgear manufacturing and installation capabilities.

Building on EfficiencyIT’s ModularDC solutions and aligning with the UK Government’s recently published AI Opportunities Action Plan, the partnership seeks to help organisations across the governmental, enterprise and life science sectors deploy highly resilient, scalable AI compute environments while achieving significant increases in sustainability.

By collaborating from concept to delivery, EfficiencyIT and MSSL aim to reduce the time-to-deployment, cost and environmental impact typically associated with accelerated computing infrastructure for HPC (high-performance computing) and artificial intelligence (AI) workloads.

A Partnership Founded on Sustainability

Both EfficiencyIT and MSSL place a powerful emphasis on sustainable innovation. EfficiencyIT holds PlanetMark accreditation and was recently recognised by its strategic partner, Schneider Electric, as one of just 16 EcoXpert partners globally for its sustainability impact. In recognition of its ongoing leadership in sustainable critical infrastructure operations, the company was also awarded a prestigious Royal Warrant of Appointment into the Place and Quality of Supplier of IT Infrastructure Services by His Majesty King Charles III. This recognition further underscores its exceptional service and commitment to delivering sustainable IT infrastructure solutions to the British Royal Household.

MSSL, meanwhile, is also a Schneider Electric Sustainability Impact Award winner and has spearheaded multiple sustainability initiatives in recent years, halving its carbon footprint, introducing renewable energy programs, and achieving carbon-neutral status for the first time in 2022. This track record has resulted in the company’s recognition through a host of industry accolades and government case studies, most notably during COP26. Most recently, MSSL was honoured with The King’s Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development, one of the UK’s most prestigious business awards, highlighting its long-term commitment to sustainability and excellence in manufacturing.

Together, these awards represent a shared ethos between the two organisations to lead by example in the transition to a lower-carbon, innovation-driven economy and to help customers do the same.

The new channel partnership will give customers access to secure, scalable, and quick-to-deploy prefabricated data centre solutions manufactured and integrated in the UK, including next-generation UPS, low-voltage (LV) switchgear and power equipment that underpins EfficiencyIT’s ModularDC platform.

Adopting this approach ensures that customers can quickly scale up their AI, data centre or critical power environments using the latest high-density, energy-efficient components and benefit from both organisations’ consultative approach to design, integration, installation and services.

Additionally, by sourcing and manufacturing ModularDC solutions in the UK, both companies aim to help customers decarbonise the supply chain by reducing Scope 3 emissions, strengthen local supply networks, and align with the UK government’s call for “sufficient, secure and sustainable infrastructure foundations for AI.”

From eco-friendly design and fabrication to on-site engineering and long-term maintenance, the partnership delivers an end-to-end framework to help organisations comply with national and international industry standards in energy efficiency, infrastructure resilience, and security.

A Shared Commitment to Decarbonisation

“As demand for AI infrastructure intensifies, the data centre industry cannot afford to compromise on security, sustainability or resilience,” said Nick Ewing, Managing Director at EfficiencyIT. “By formalising our partnership with Michael Smith Switchgear, we’re ensuring that organisations across the public and private sectors can rapidly scale their data centre and AI compute environments without compromising on environmental commitments, supply chain security, or regulatory compliance.”

Sean Smith, Managing Director at MSSL, commented: “EfficiencyIT shares our passion for environmental stewardship and supporting UK-based manufacturing with the highest standards of sustainability. Our combined experience provides a powerful proposition for customers looking to accelerate their AI and high-powered data centre, energy or electrical projects, and we look forward to collaborating to help meet and exceed these ambitions.”