2015 Data Center 100: 20 Infrastructure Providers

Data Center 100: 20 Infrastructure Providers

The right data center infrastructure allows data center operators and their customers to run applications with maximum performance and efficiency. It includes the hardware and software on which data centers are built, including storage, servers, networking gear, power supplies, cooling devices, backup power, fire suppression, physical security, and other devices.

Solution providers need access to a wide range of data center infrastructure technologies to provide services regardless of whether they target a single client’s operations or multitenant infrastructures.

Here are the data center infrastructure companies to make this year’s Data Center 100 list.

ABB

Zurich, Switzerland

Ulrich Spiesshofer,

CEO

ABB is a global developer of power and power management technology. In the data center market, the company has a complete line of power protection and conditioning solutions, including DCIM software and modular UPS solutions it says increases availability and cuts the total cost of ownership.

Anord Critical Power

Richmond, Va.

Robert Sweaney

VP, Operations, GM

Anord, a 45-year-old provider of critical power infrastructure to data centers, cites as its claim to fame its form 4b Type 7 AMS switchgear, a compact, fully compartmentalized, and robust switchgear solution customers use for protection and fault resilience in mission-critical applications.

APC by Schneider Electric

West Kingston, R.I.

Laurent Vernerey

EVP, North America operations

Data center power infrastructure and DCIM software provider APC by Schneider Electric recently expanded its reach into serve large-scale data centers with Reference Design 21, a modular approach to scaling power capacity to up to 3.6 megawatts using dual 600-kilowatt facility power skids and the company’s EcoBreeze air economizers.

Asetek

San Jose, Calif.

Andre Eriksen

Founder, CEO

Asetek, which develops liquid cooling systems for rack and desktop servers as well as for high-density and high-performance servers, in 2014 expanded its technology to solutions for cooling high-performance GPUs.

Brocade

San Jose, Calif.

Lloyd Carney

CEO

Brocade in 2014 expanded its traditional storage networking technology with a new generation of fabric extenders for high-performance replication and disaster recovery. It also expanded its software-defined networking solutions, and is working closely with Aruba Networks’ wireless LAN technology.

Cisco Systems

San Jose, Calif.

John Chambers

Chairman, CEO

Cisco continues to make itself an ever-more integral part of the data center from the network to UCS servers to wireless to cloud, and to, well, storage, thanks to partnering with nearly every storage vendor on converged infrastructure offerings.

CyberPower Systems

Shakopee, Minn.

Michael Ho

President

A builder of products for protecting IT power in home offices to SMB and corporate data centers, CyberPower Systems’ lines include UPS, surge protection, power distribution units, network power management, emergency battery backup and telecom equipment.

Dell

Round Rock, Texas

Michael Dell

Chairman, CEO

2014 was the first full year for Dell as a private company during which it has accumulated leading or near-leading positions in servers, PCs and networking. The company is also stealing a page from the startup handbook with a big hyper-converged infrastructure push via partners such as Nutanix.

Eaton

Cleveland

Alexander Cutler

Chairman, CEO

Power quality hardware and software developer Eaton in 2014 expanded its data center presence with new vendor relationships including certification with EMC’s VSPEX solutions and integration with VCE and VMware.

EMC

Hopkinton, Mass.

Joe Tucci

Chairman, CEO

Through its EMC Federation, EMC rules the data center with storage, security, cloud, converged infrastructure, and more. But that could all change should EMC decide to break up the EMC Federation into separate companies due to investor pressure.

Emerson Network Power

Columbus, Ohio

Scott Barbour

Business leader

Emerson Network Power used 2014 to expand its power management, thermal management, transfer switch, DCIM software, and service capabilities under its Liebert, Avocent, ASCO, and Trellis platforms. The company also invested in research facilities and customer experience centers targeted at the data center, telecommunications, and industrial markets.

Hewlett-Packard

Palo Alto, Calif.

Meg Whitman

Chairman, President, CEO

HP in 2014 took the first steps toward splitting into an enterprise business and a printer and PC business, a move that should give the enterprise side of the equation more independence in terms of targeting enterprise data center infrastructures.

Hitec Power Protection

Rosenberg, Texas

Ivo H.L. Mönnink

CEO

Hitec’s UPS systems, which the company claims offers the highest power density per square foot, was expanded in 2014 with the Hitec QPS line. QPS, available in capacities of up to 3,600kVA, offers up to 97 percent end-to-end efficiency, and includes integrated system monitoring software.

Hurricane Electric

Fremont, Calif.

Mike Leber

President

Hurricane Electric operates a global IPv4 and IPv6 network, and claims to offer the world's largest IPv6 backbone in terms of number of networks connected. Its network connects to 90 major exchange points and more than 3,600 different networks. It has four redundant paths crossing North America.

IBM

Armonk, N.Y.

Ginni Rometty

Chairman, President, CEO

More than any vendor, IBM traditionally has been involved in nearly every aspect of data center infrastructures. That changed in 2014 with the sale of its x86 server business. However, IBM’s investment in data center cloud technologies will be a company focus in 2015 and beyond.

Para Systems (Minuteman)

Carrollton, Texas

Rod Pullen

President

Para Systems, which develops power protection and management technology under the Minuteman brand, over the past year expanded its Endeavor line of battery backup systems with capacities of up to 20kVA, and unveiled its new EnTerra series of three-phase UPS solutions.

Server Technology

Reno, Nev.

Brandon Ewing

CEO

Intelligent high-density power distribution unit (PDU) and power monitoring technology developer Server Technology enhanced its solution delivery capabilities with its Server Technology Fast Movers, a selection of PDUs that ship in two to five days, as well as a build-your-own smart PDU capability.

Stay Online

Creedmoor, N.C.

Bellinda Higgins

President

Stay Online produces the power cords, connectors, adapters, power strips, outlets, cables, cable trays, shelves, and electrical drops that help connect the data center. The company is unique in that much of its product line is made in own U.S. facilities.

Stulz Air Technology Systems

Frederick, Md.

Joerg Desler

President

Stulz develops indoor and outdoor cooling solutions and humidification and dehumidification equipment for mission-critical data center applications. 2014 saw the company expand its U.S. production facilities and integrate Culligen as a partner for purifying and de-ionization of water for its data center humidifiers.

Tripp Lite

Chicago

Glen Haeflinger

President

Tripp Lite develops rack enclosures, networked and managed power distribution units (PDUs), cooling solutions, network switches, and data center cables and connectivity products, and in 2014 expanded its three-phase switched PDUs and introduced a new line of high-density fiber patch panels.