Q&A with Data Center POST’s Contributing Editor, Kathy Xu
Data Center POST recently spoke with MTU Onsite Energy’s Kevin McKinney, Senior Sales Manager of North America about the company’s upcoming attendance at Data Center World from April 3-6 in Los Angeles. Mr. McKinney views the conference as a must-attend event for the chance it provides to connect with others in the industry. Other topics covered include MTU Onsite Energy’s product portfolio and how the company’s innovation has driven its success.
Data Center POST, Kathy Xu (DCP-KX) Question: Tell our readers about your company: What do you do and what problems are you attempting to solve?
MTU Onsite Energy, Kevin McKinney (MTU Onsite Energy-KM) Answer: MTU Onsite Energy has a powerful partnership with the data center industry. Our power generation solutions give data center operators peace of mind with their 24/7/365 reliability. In mission critical applications, there is no time for downtime.
As one of the core brands of Rolls-Royce Power Systems, MTU Onsite Energy is a leading supplier of power generation systems for emergency standby and continuous-duty applications based on both gas and diesel generator sets. We are trusted by top telecommunications companies and enterprise data centers to ensure that the lines of communication stay open and data flows without interruption. We help them mitigate risk and ensure the stability and reliability of the cloud.
Our diesel generator sets cover a complete power range, featuring specific mission critical ratings. MTU generator-drive diesel engines are designed with more cylinder displacement per rated horsepower than alternative products. As a result, MTU Onsite Energy diesel generator sets are certified at an 85 percent average load factor over 24 hours, significantly higher than the 70 percent average load factor required by ISO 8528. Our approach results in lower engine stress, reducing maintenance and lengthening engine life. Because MTU Onsite Energy generator sets can handle 15 percent higher average loads, our data center customers are typically able to specify fewer generator sets, depending on the size of the installation.
Our combined heat and power (CHP) systems are another efficient solution. Fueled mostly by natural gas, they provide a reliable, flexible and continuous power supply along with an additional source of cooling. Using an absorption chiller, the CHP system can transfer heat into ambient cooling to save on air conditioning costs.
DCP-KX Q: What do you attribute your company’s success to?
MTU Onsite Energy-KM A: MTU Onsite Energy’s success did not come overnight. We have a long history of innovation, with over a century of diesel engine experience and more than 60 years of power generation packaging expertise. When it comes to the data center industry, our success comes from that same spirit of innovation which has helped us develop systems that deliver the maximum uptime and economic efficiency with environmental sustainability that customers demand.
MTU Onsite Energy offers more than off-the-shelf products, services, engineering and technology. We also specialize in creating custom solutions for our customers based on their specific needs. This combination of standard offerings and custom solutions is what makes us such a valuable partner.
DCP-KX Q: What do you think is the greatest challenge in the data center industry?
MTU Onsite Energy-KM A: The greatest challenge facing the data center industry is customer delivery schedules, which require shorter lead times and simplified site delivery. Our robust project management team ensures we have the ability to deliver to our customer base on these challenges.
DCP-KX Q: What new developments are on the horizon for your company?
MTU Onsite Energy-KM A: We continue to work toward optimizing our systems to meet evolving customer requirements, such as system sequence of operations, emissions and optimizing the emergency power systems. Currently, we are focused on hyperscale solutions for many of our customers.
DCP-KX Q: What would you like to accomplish at Data Center World?
MTU Onsite Energy-KM A: Data Center World is a must-attend event for MTU Onsite Energy. It is a great opportunity to reach out to data center and IT professionals with information on how our systems can help them meet their requirements for resiliency and agility in their facilities. With seven of the top 10 enterprise data centers relying on MTU Onsite Energy, we want to let other data center operators know about how we can help them too.
DCP-KX: Thank you for your time and best of luck at Data Center World. Readers, if you are interested to learn more about MTU Onsite Energy, visit http://www.mtuonsiteenergy.com/.
If you would like to attend Data Center World, please register here. Follow all things Data Center World on Twitter with the hashtag #DataCenterWorld.
