ABB develops and manufactures a broad portfolio of power and automation solutions, from circuit breakers to industrial robots and power grids. The company forecasts that over the next three years, data center traffic will quadruple, while worldwide energy consumption by data centers will more than triple. So how will businesses and consumers run applications and store data without exhausting global energy supplies?
ABB is a global leader in providing industrial control and automation solutions to diverse industries such as life sciences, food and beverage, mining, oil and gas, chemicals, and others. Built on ABB’s industry-specific software, these are operationally critical systems at the heart of keeping its customers’ production—and, therefore, revenue—flowing. That means ABB needs hardware technologies precisely configured to deliver optimal performance and reliability.
To meet this challenge, ABB tapped its expertise in direct current (DC) technology. DC powered data center systems are less complex than alternating current (AC) systems. They require fewer power conversions and reduce system footprint by up to 25%. They also incur lower equipment, installation, real estate, and maintenance costs. ABB also needed an OEM partner to pair its DC solutions with flexible IT components.
ABB selected Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) as the OEM partner for its new data center offering. HPE designed the high voltage, DC-enabled servers and storage systems needed to bring ABB’s DC technology innovation into the data center. ABB partnered with HPE to create a sustainable data center solution.
Partnering with the HPE OEM program, ABB acquired optimally configured long-lifecycle hardware with extended warranty coverage and global support. OEM solutions from HPE enable ABB to assure its customers of long service life and global support for the servers running their mission-critical industrial process control and automation solutions, avoiding costly and disruptive updates to keep their operations running smoothly and efficiently.
“To be competitive, we must recommend servers that ensure quality and cost-effectiveness in our solutions. As an HPE OEM Partner, we have access not only to HPE technologies, but also HPE engineers who collaborate with us on specifying the best server configuration to match our solution requirements and our customer’s budget”, says Peter Ahistrom, Global Product Line Manager, ABB.
Long-lifecycle OEM technologies keep operations up, costs down
ABB’s solutions can be in service at a customer’s facility for decades. Therefore, reliability and long service life are paramount. Because these solutions are integral and critical to production, customers also want to minimize any updates or changes to software or hardware.
Ahistrom explains, “Updating the operating system can be a very heavy administrative effort because the customer then has to make sure all their applications still run properly following the update. If customers had to replace their servers every three years, they could be forced to update the OS and other software, which would be very costly and disruptive. With long-lifecycle servers available through the HPE OEM program, we can provide our customers with hardware that lasts 5 – 7 years or more, which avoids business disruption and keeps costs down.”
He adds that global, long-term operational services support from HPE Pointnext is also a great value to ABB’s customers. “Coverage that spans the life of a server is very important. With HPE Pointnext, customers can rely on a global network of technical expertise to service their equipment on-site. Other players can’t provide that same level of service.”
Perhaps the most important benefit to Ahistrom is the responsiveness he gets from the HPE OEM team when it comes to answering questions or providing technical guidance.
Ahistrom concludes, “Responsiveness is something you should expect, but don’t always get from other vendors. By always getting back to us promptly, HPE provides peace of mind that we can get our customers the answers they need. And since I don’t have to spend time chasing people down, I can focus more time on other more important tasks. That’s valuable to me.”
Read more on this solution case here.
Audrey Cox
WW OEM Communications & Brand Awareness
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
