Learn to put an entire data center together to sustain business

Why have you opted to open your first IT hub for APAC in India?

Opening of the IT hubs is a strategic decision we have taken to capture the
IT markets of the key countries. We will soon have four more IT hubs in Hong
Kong, Dubai, Tokyo and Shanghai. And India is one of the biggest markets for
Rittal today.

We started investing into IT as a business area 10 years ago when the need
for racks was just taking off.

While earlier racks were just used for housing servers, today they do more
than that. Today, cooling and ensuring continuous power is critical for servers
and racks plan an important role here. We have developed cooling technologies
like precision cooling for hot spots in data centers, and have moved on from
being just a rack manufacturer to a complete data center solutions provider.

With this metamorphosis, it was imperative that we create awareness amongst
our customers and channel partners about the kind of solutions we have for data
centers and why they should work with us. We also wanted to show them that they
need not worry about liquid cooling, by showing an operational data center which
runs our own office. Besides we had set-up a similar center in CeBit and its
success gave the final push to set-up this hub.

Are there any sales obligations for partners who bring in their customers
to the center?

There is no obligation on any channel partner. This is just another way that
we are trying to give our partners a fillip to their business by letting their
customers get all their concerns about data centers addressed in real time. Our
IT hub runs our local office, so CIOs can see its real life working.

What about the fact that your Rimatrix 5 data center solutions are more
cost-intensive then solutions available in the market?

Our initial investment will work out to be around 15 percent higher than
those available in the market. But with our solutions, enterprises can save 40
percent of their power outflow,

which translates into a huge saving over the long run.

Dr Harald Werner Sr VP-International Sales, Rittal

Since you are getting into data center solutions, whom will you be
partnering with?

We are metamorphosing from a racks and enclosures manufacturer to a total
data center solution provider. Therefore, we too expect that the partners we
work with will also make a similar transition where they will focus more on the
services that can be offered in data centers rather than just concentrating on
selling products.

The reason we want to work closer to these partners is because they have
access to the mid-sized enterprises which also need five to six racks. We want
these partners to thereby upgrade their skill sets to be able to offer pre-sales
consultancy and post-sales support as well and will help them enhance their
technical skill sets.

How is Rittal trying to organize some movement to have industry standards?

We are part of a committee in Europe which is working on creating some
industry standards that all the members need to follow. Our R&D team is working
with this committee to design future-oriented best practices. But when they will
be enforceable in India is not known. But we expect that Indian IT companies
will absorb these practices quicker, because the Indian industry here is on the
threshold of the global IT technology.

In recent times, due to rising steel prices rack, vendors have hiked their
product prices by 25 percent. Do you expect prices to go up further?

I don't think prices will go up any more, they have stabilized. If anything
there is a likelihood of a price drop if demand is sustained despite the
slowdown. But it is very difficult to predict.

VINITA BHATIA

(vinitavs@cybermedia.co.in)