Schneider Electric, AVEVA, ETAP Join Alliance for OpenUsD

Schneider Electric, industrial software provider AVEVA, and power system design firm ETAP, have joined the Alliance for OpenUSD (Universal Scene Description). The Alliance includes NVIDIA, Pixar, Adobe and Autodesk, and was created to develop interoperable digital twins and simulation-ready (SimReady) 3D assets. The announcement was unveiled during Schneider Electric’s Innovation Summit North America in Las Vegas. 

OpenUSD is a high-performance, extensible framework and ecosystem that enables seamless interoperability between software tools and data types for building virtual worlds and advancing industrial digitalization. 

According to the companies, joining the Alliance signals Schneider Electric, AVEVA and ETAP’s alignment with NVIDIA’s vision for scalable, physically accurate and real-time digital twin environments. 

By adopting OpenUSD as a shared standard, the companies are working closely with NVIDIA to unlock new possibilities for:

• SimReady Asset Development: Creating interoperable, simulation-ready models of physical infrastructure components, like power and cooling systems, that can be orchestrated within industrial digital twins that leverage NVIDIA Omniverse libraries.
• Digital Twin Collaboration: Enabling unified views of complex systems, such as data centers, energy grids and industrial facilities that are integrated with Schneider Electric’s platforms, like EcoStruxure, AVEVA and ETAP. The three companies’ multi-domain expertise across buildings, data centers, factories, plants, grids and infrastructure offers advanced digital twin simulations for an array of industries.
• Accelerated AI Infrastructure Deployment: Leveraging the NVIDIA Omniverse DSX Blueprint and NVIDIA Omniverse libraries to codesign gigawatt-scale AI factories with reduced risk and faster time-to-market.

Schneider Electric’s SimReady assets are used alongside applications with integrated NVIDIA Omniverse libraries, enabling physically accurate, detailed simulations across industries, and accelerating digital twin development. From manufacturers optimizing assembly lines, to data center operators enhancing AI factory design and operations, the adoption of OpenUSD and digital twins is driving improved energy efficiency, sustainability and resiliency.

For example, by using AI factory digital twins, data center operators can model and manage physical infrastructure systems that simulate thermal behavior, power distribution and airflow to optimize cooling efficiency and reliability.

“OpenUSD is more than a file format, it’s a virtual bridge between industries,” said Jim Simonelli, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Data Centers at Schneider Electric. “Joining the Alliance allows us to contribute to a shared digital language that empowers collaboration, simulation and innovation across the AI ecosystem. It’s a natural extension of our work with NVIDIA, allowing us to build AI infrastructure that’s not only powerful, but intelligent, sustainable and future-ready.”

“To efficiently design and operate complex systems like AI factories, industries need a robust, simulation-ready foundation,” said Rev Lebaredian, Vice President of Omniverse and Simulation Technology at NVIDIA. “Schneider Electric's expertise in energy management, hardware and software, combined with NVIDIA Omniverse libraries, will accelerate the creation of the AI factories and intelligent grids of the future, paving the way for a new era of AI-driven efficiency and sustainability.”

The companies are co-developing reference architectures, integrated infrastructure and software solutions that will power and cool the next generation of AI factories, and working on projects that leverage NVIDIA Omniverse libraries to simulate and improve energy efficiency in real-world environments.

At GTC DC, Schneider Electric was named as a power, cooling and energy technology partner contributing to the NVIDIA AI factory Research Center in Manassas, VA. Powered by the NVIDIA Vera Rubin platform, the center was built to support breakthroughs in generative AI, scientific computing and advanced manufacturing and to serve as a foundation for the Omniverse DSX Blueprint for gigascale AI factories. In March 2025, ETAP by Schneider Electric unveiled a cutting-edge digital twin that can accurately design and simulate the power needs of AI factories.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.