Q&A with Data Center POST’s Contributing Editor, Kathy Xu
Michael McSweeney, Sales Manager of Rotarex North America, recently spoke with Data Center POST about what Rotarex does, what makes the company successful and unique, the dynamics of the data center industry, as well as upcoming company developments. Rotarex will be at Data Center World, taking place April 3-6 in Los Angeles at the LA Convention Center.
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?
Rotarex, Michael McSweeney (Rotarex – MM) Answer: Rotarex is a manufacturer of fire suppression systems, cylinder valves and pressure regulators. From its headquarters in Luxembourg, the Rotarex management team leads a global operations network of over 1,200 dedicated employees across 10 factories and 30 sales/service centers. Present in over 65 countries with factories and sales offices in key locations around the world, our customers count on us to deliver the products and services they need wherever they are. As a leading manufacturer of fire protection systems and suppression agents, Rotarex provides customers with the most complete fire protection options and technologies available to protect their vital assets and business capabilities.
DCP-KX Q: What do you attribute to your company’s success?
Rotarex – MM A: Fire protection is absolutely vital in today’s world. It only takes moments for a fire to disrupt your operations, destroy business continuity, erode customer confidence and cause drastic financial loss. Often a fire leads to business closure as many companies experiencing a significant fire are out of business in less than two years. In today’s highly mobile and competitive business environment, the loss of operational uptime, supply disruption and loss of customer confidence is much more costly than the actual fire damage.
Rotarex is not like other fire protection companies that rely on outsourced providers to produce the key components for their systems. In essence, those companies become essentially assembly operations. The value-added aspect of their business is in the branding and sales expertise, not in the innovation and quality. For this reason, Rotarex chooses to manufacture its key components internally.
DCP-KX Q: How do you see the data center industry evolving? What do you think is the greatest challenge in the data center industry?
Rotarex – MM A: The data center industry is constantly evolving, requiring fire suppression to evolve with it. More and more we see data rooms getting smaller and smaller. With cloud-based servers, you require less hardware, so your racks can also be mobile. It is much more cost-effective to cool a small enclosed rack.
The industry requires cost-effective fire suppression systems that can meet the smaller footprint.
DCP-KX Q: What new developments are on the horizon for your company?
Rotarex – MM A: Rotarex has developed a cost-effective automatic clean agent fire suppression system that is designed to protect small enclosures. These systems are UL listed using a clean agent that is safe for the environment, safe for the equipment and safe for people.
DCP-KX Q: What would you like to accomplish at Data Center World?
Rotarex – MM A: We hope to introduce our company, and our products to both exhibitors and attendees at the show. Please be sure to stop by our booth #1422.
DCP-KX: Thank you for your time and best of luck at Data Center World. Readers, if you are interested to learn more about Rotarex, please visit www.rotarex.com. If you would like to attend Data Center World, please register at this link. Follow all things Data Center World on Twitter with the hashtag #DataCenterWorld.
