New name, new impetus

Q

The most obvious place to start is why the name change – from
Gamma Global to Datacentre Distribution?

A

Gamma Global has been trading for over 20 years as an independent distributor for leading IT Brands such as HP, Cisco and APC. We partnered with our first Vendor in 2005 (Avocent) and became one of their UK Authorised Distributor. Over time, we have partnered with more and more Vendors and our Revenue stream has grown inside this Authorised division so we strategically re-branded and set up Datacentre Distribution as a Trading Style of Gamma Global to separate this division from Gamma’s core business and give the business its own identity in the market place.

Q
How has this move been received by your Reseller Partners
and Technology Vendor Partners?

A
All our Reseller and Vendor partners have been fully supportive with the re-brand exercise. We held a launch event at City Golf in London in November and all Vendor partners attended showing their full support along with our key Reseller partners. We have kept disruption to a minimum and in terms of dealing with us as a business, there have been no changes, it will just be the look and feel of our communication.

Q
Presumably, along with the name change, there have been
other organisational changes (personnel, product strategy etc.)
to reflect the closer focus on the data centre market?
A

Datacentre Distribution is a Trading Style of Gamma Global so we are still using Gamma’s infrastructure and back office to fully support Datacentre Distribution. Our new office, opened in January in Harrogate, will be the Sales hub for our Datacentre Infrastructure Specialists. We have dedicated Quotes and Operations Teams who will be on hand to all Resellers for pre- and post-sale assistance. We also assist our Resellers to drive Revenues and educate them to move up Vendor Channel Programmes.

Q
What other Datacentre Distribution developments can we
expect during 2014 and beyond?

A

We have recently opened a new office in Harrogate and employed another Datacentre Infrastructure Sales Specialist. We are expecting to triple the Datacentre Distribution Revenue to £10 million by 2016 as well as growing personnel and sales staff numbers along the way. We are also keeping our eyes open for complementary Vendors to fit within our Datacentre focused portfolio. Next year, we will be setting up a Demo Suite available for Resellers to train and demo our existing portfolio of equipment at our Harrogate office. We would also like to see Datacentre Distribution become a separate ‘Trading As’ business of Gamma Global in the future.

Q
Focusing on the present, what are the technology offerings
in the Datacentre Distribution portfolio right now?

A
We currently offer the full range of Datacentre Management Infrastructure (DCIM) including Power Management and Monitoring Solutions, Infrastructure Management and Monitoring Solutions, Racks & Integrated Cabinets, Precision Cooling and Surge
Protection.

Q
In more detail, can you tell us about the Austin Hughes
products and what they offer end users seeking to optimise
their data centre environments?

A

To optimise the datacentre cabinet environment Austin Hughes has developed a cabinet controller that can be used for either small or large installations. InfaSolution X allows cabinet control and monitoring of door handles, switching and monitoring of PDUs, control of cooling fan units, monitoring of temperature and humidity, as well as smoke, shock and water alarms for up to 800 cabinets over a local or wide area network

Q
Similarly, what does the Emerson Network Power portfolio bring
to end users – especially since the various acquisitions the
company has undertaken in recent years?

A

“Optimisation of their critical infrastructure.” The acquisitions in the past years by Emerson Network Power have been to strengthen our promise of maximising availability, capacity and efficiency of a customers critical infrastructure. Because Network Power has the breadth of IT and facilities sales consultant and professional services experience, under one organisation, focused on the same customer challenges, means that for any customer who is looking to optimise their infrastructure by investing in one organisation, they can be confident that the financial backing, experience, and completely aligned approach of sales and services is a sound investment.

By their very nature, our customers’ “critical power” requirements are essential to the running of their business – in terms of end user experience, infrastructure performance and the overall reliability of the IT estate. The Emerson Network Power portfolio is built to encompass a wide range of technologies which ensure that we can help our customers find the right solution for their needs. Emerson Network Power makes it even easier for us to do deliver this to our customers by acting as a single point of contact for service, project management and commissioning. The Emerson Network Power Innovation Partnership Program for Europe, Middle East and Africa combines solutions from Emerson’s Avocent, Liebert and Knurr brands into an integrated programme. This means that our customers see the benefits of the multiple strands of the business as they work in cooperation to offer a genuinely complete picture for IT’s critical environments.

Q
What are the nuances surrounding cabinet and rack technology
right now that the Rittal, product lines seek to address?

A

Rittal TS-IT is an Intelligent enclosure and accessory system with reduced complexity and assembly friendly plug & play technology.
The Rittal TS-IT range offers a range of different size server racks which can be made to fit all your equipment needs, from racks suitable for simple stand alone to high performance data centre with high density environmental requirements. Data centre fully loadable server racks offering high maximum 1500 Kg load capacity and an extensive range of system accessories for maximum security for server integration.
TS-IT server cabinets meet the most exacting data centre standards in terms of power supply, climate control and access protection. Rittal TS-IT is designed with the capability of the configuration to the exact requirements you may need to produce the perfect rack for your application i.e. in data centres, server rooms or as stand-alone solutions. Functionality and assembly-friendliness are basic requirements.

Q
The ENP product line is pretty broad – which products and
technologies seem to strike a chord most with customers right
now, and which are the ones to watch in terms of potential?

A

One of the great advantages of Emerson Network Power’s wide range of technologies is that our customers can present to us almost any problem and, with the help of Emerson Network Power, we have the technology to solve it – and to improve on the performance they are currently experiencing. It also gives us an in-depth, industry-wide knowledge and a “big-picture” understanding of how all systems must work together within any critical environment.

There are three key portfolio areas that align with customers’ challenges; these are Thermal Management, Data Centre Infrastructure Management and Power Management. All three are intrinsically linked and what strikes the biggest chord with customers is our ability to understand these interdependencies as they affect a customers business and how are able to bring together core teams of experts who can give consultative advice as to the best way to optimise all of their Data Centre Infrastructure. This is the ‘right now’ and the ‘future’ potential. We are deliberately structured to match a customer’s scenario of having to manage several interdependent aspects and this enables us to offer them a holistic and not just point solution.

If we were to have to identify the sorts of challenges we’re regularly helping customers to address, many are installing higher density server and storage environments, and looking at refresh or consolidation projects. You could therefore say that the last 12 months or so, we have seen strong interest in products such as Emerson Network Power’s GXT3 Range of on-line UPS for critical server and VOIP environments. We remain very aware of the needs of our customers, and so products such as the NXC Range of 10-40kva UPS have been positioned to ensure that businesses seeking the reliability and performance of this kind of UPS can readily factor it into their planning.

Q
The PDU space is very competitive, what are the USPs that
make the Server Technology products stand out from the crowd?

A

It’s a great question. The best answer we could give is give them a try! Partners and customers, who have purchased other manufacturers’ PDUs before, will notice a remarkable difference in the Server Technology range. The immediate reaction we get time and again from our customers is that the build qualities of the Server Technology products are far superior to any other product on the market. Server Technology has been manufacturing PDUs for 30 years, and over those times has sourced the highest quality components available, and are so focused on delivering a high end product, that the consumer enjoys a trouble free experience with every single PDU installed.

To our knowledge, Server Technology is the only PDU Manufacturer in the world who tests every single socket on every single PDU before it leaves the facilities. This ensures customers receive the PDUs of the highest quality and reliability. And when you consider the importance of Power in the Data Centre, this has got to be a strong consideration when making the choice of which PDU to trust.

From an evolutionary standpoint, it’s hard for other manufacturers to get close to Server Technology. As the owner of more IP (Intellectual Property) than any other PDU Manufacturer in the Market today, we find that partners and end users come to Server Technology to invest in the latest capabilities. For instance, Server Technology has released a capability called ST-Eye.

ST-Eye allows a Data Centre operative at the rack to view in real-time the power measures from a PDU in the Rack, without the need of any DCIM or Power Software. All they need is their Smartphone and a Server Technology app, and they can quickly read PDU values that can tell them immediately whether they have an issue or not. The other innovation is Server Technology’s HDOT solution.

The HDOT (High Density Outlet Technology) provides the highest possible outlet density today. HDOT can provide up to 42 industry standard C13 outlets in a drastically reduced footprint. Server Technology just released a new section on their site where someone can build their very own HDOT. The uptake from this has been unbelievable. Partners or End Users can design their own
PDU Specification in a few clicks, and send off a request to have it priced up.

We are seeing an increase in partners asking us for intelligent PDUs. A few years ago, these requests were not so common. Intelligent power comes in many forms, and a key benefit of the Server Technology range is the substantial number of models available. This allows us to provide options that are almost tailored to what the customer requires.

Q
Are there any other product lines that you are looking to add to
the Datacentre Distribution portfolio over the coming months?

A
We are keeping an eye open in the market place for complementary products and new technologies to strengthen our offering. Our existing Vendors are also launching new products and programmes so we will be tooling up all our Resellers to confidently sell each brand.

Q
Do you think that your customer base will change over time?

A
We are seeing more and more solution and project based opportunities coming our way as Resellers are expected to add more value in terms of solutions.