Q&A with Data Center POST’s Contributing Editor, Kathy Xu
Vertiv Vice President, Global Power, Peter A. Panfil recently spoke with Data Center POST about attending Data Center World April 3-6 in Los Angeles. Mr. Panfil views Data Center World as an opportunity to meet with the best companies in the data center technology industry and build new relationships. Other topics covered in this Q&A include what makes Vertiv successful and new developments the data center industry.
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?
Vertiv, Pater A. Panfil (Vertiv-PP) Answer: Vertiv is a $4.4 billion global company that designs, builds and services critical infrastructure which enables vital applications for data centers, communication networks, and healthcare, commercial and industrial facilities. We support today’s growing mobile and cloud computing markets, with a broad portfolio of power, thermal and infrastructure management solutions. We ensure network availability, and we do it with efficient and intelligent solutions that can be deployed quickly anywhere in the world.
Data Center POST, Kathy Xu (DCP-KX) Question: What do you attribute your company’s success to?
Vertiv-PP A: Vertiv has strong brands with tremendous equity in the market – Liebert, ASCO, NetSure, Chloride – and an outstanding infrastructure monitoring and management software portfolio. We support those brands and solutions with the best service organization in the industry, and are committed to helping customers solve their toughest challenges as quickly and intelligently as possible. We have billions of megawatts of power and cooling deployed, supported by design, manufacturing and service facilities across the globe. Our customers know that we understand their businesses, their challenges and their opportunities because we operate in their part of the world every day. We are their trusted advisor in no small part due to our deep domain knowledge that helps them to deploy the most reliable and efficient state-of-the-art critical infrastructures. We are a $4 billion global company with the mindset of a startup – that’s a powerful combination.
Data Center POST, Kathy Xu (DCP-KX) Question: How do you see the data center industry evolving? What do you think is the greatest challenge in the data center industry?
Vertiv-PP A: There are several things. First, it’s increasingly difficult to tell where the data center industry ends and the telecommunications industry begins. If you aren’t proficient in all aspects of data storage, transmission and delivery, you are not going to be able to survive in today’s information ecosystem. Connected to this trend, we’re seeing networks become more and more distributed, with a greater emphasis on criticality at the edge. Everything from the explosion of connected devices to the emergence of software-defined networks is driving this trend.
Parallel to this, we’re seeing cloud and colocation explode as businesses become more comfortable with third-party IT providers. That’s significant because cloud and colo data centers present their own unique challenges – whether they’re hyperscale facilities with unique engineering or more traditional colo models that require more advanced management strategies. These are increasingly complex environments, and organizations that can manage that complexity with scalability and speed will be ahead of the game.
One of the biggest challenges is transitioning from the mindset that you have to build everything from scratch to one of rapid deployment. Rapid deployment can take many forms – from a line-up tuned to IT deployment, to skids, to the data center as a deliverable. More and more designs are being partitioned for rapid deployment to gain standardization of deployment and operation, predictable schedules, consistent quality and lower cost.
Data Center POST, Kathy Xu (DCP-KX) Question: What new developments are on the horizon for your company?
Vertiv-PP A: Our industry is changing rapidly, and that presents opportunities for innovative organizations like ours. We know enterprise data centers better than anyone in the industry and are applying that domain expertise at the edge of the network and supporting the growing cloud and colo sectors. As computing moves into access sites and closer to the consumer, reliability is going to be critical. We see this as an opportunity for integrated systems, designed to meet specific needs but with the benefits of repeatable, prefabricated construction, and we’re active in this area with many different solutions of all shapes and sizes, from micro data centers to massive large-scale solutions. We also know efficiency will continue to be important, and we continue to pursue innovation around alternative energy solutions and energy storage, such as refrigerant-based economizers and lithium-ion batteries.
Data Center POST, Kathy Xu (DCP-KX) Question: What would you like to accomplish at Data Center World?
Vertiv-PP A: Data Center World is always a great opportunity to gather with the best companies and minds in our industry to share ideas and advance the state of the art in data center technology. We’ve long been a part of those conversations, and we will be again this year. We always meet new friends and find new customers at Data Center World, and we look forward to those new relationships as well. Please be sure to stop by our booth #809.
DCP-KX: Thank you for your time and best of luck at Data Center World.
Readers, if you are interested in learning more about Vertiv, visit http://vertivco.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.
