eSite Power Systems rises from the ashes of Flexenclosure

One of the most innovative and widely adopted telecom site power systems, the unique eSite x10, is back with a vengeance. A new company, eSite Power Systems, has emerged from the bankruptcy of Flexenclosure, led by the same team that originally developed and brought eSite to market. The new business is leaner, more focused and funded to enable volume production. TowerXchange spoke to eSite Power Systems’ CEO Mattias Karlsson to get the latest.

TowerXchange: Please re-introduce eSite x10 for readers not familiar with your breakthrough product.

The eSite x10 is the world’s first telecom site power system purpose-built for outdoor telecom sites. It has no moving parts, so it requires zero maintenance. And our tamper-proof rectification unit uses innovative passive convection cooling so it doesn’t need filters, and it delivers 24/7 uptime. As a result, the eSite x10 can significantly reduce total cost of ownership by slashing DG runtime at bad-grid and off-grid sites.

The eSite x10 is widely used in some of the most operationally challenging markets, including Nigeria and Myanmar, while Africa’s first ESCO Energy Vision also selected the eSite x10 for extensive rollout in Burkina Faso and Gabon.

TowerXchange: What does “purpose-built for outdoor telecom sites” mean in practice?

Most outdoor cell sites use components originally designed for indoor use. However, the extreme conditions outdoors – particularly in emerging markets where heat, humidity, sand and dust are big factors – means indoor power components typically have high failure rates.

Because the eSite x10 was purpose-built for outdoor sites, every individual component has been ruggedized and the unit IP65 sealed to withstand challenging operational conditions. Our zero-maintenance requirement also eliminates the risk of tampering by poorly qualified maintenance personnel. And eSite x10 uses patented soft switching between any available grid power and our genset, thus protecting the unit from electrical surges which is one of the more common causes of rectifier failure.

The eSite x10 is compact enough to be hand carried, critical when the last mile of delivery is challenging, and installation is a simple plug and play process. Remote monitoring and management, as well as integration with other systems, are facilitated by the eSite Tools system.

TowerXchange: You and your team had a challenging Q4 of 2019 with the bankruptcy of Flexenclosure. Can you explain the emergence and status of eSite Power Systems?

Flexenclosure’s management team and investors had long felt that the company’s two product lines – eSite and eCentre – should be separated into independent business units.  The process of spinning out eSite into a separate company had already begun, but frustratingly had to be paused when Flexenclosure got into financial difficulties related to an eCentre data centre project. It was indeed a challenging time, but we were always confident that the situation would be resolved, and it has been.

eSite Power Systems is now a standalone company.  We are financially secure, backed by a group of committed investors. We have retained our core team.  We are fully focussed with no more distractions from eCentre.  We own the Flexenclosure brand, resources, patents and inventory, so we have stock and production ready to fulfil our order book.  And notwithstanding the difficulties through the end of last year, we’re proud that our customer support continued uninterrupted.

So, while I am sad that Flexenclosure is no more, we are actually now in a better position to serve this industry than we have ever been before.

TowerXchange: Can you tell us about the eSite Power Systems management team you have retained from Flexenclosure, starting with yourself?

I was with Flexenclosure for 12 years. I started eSite from a blank sheet of paper as the product manager, I employed the entire eSite team and I have always been very hands-on with every aspect of running the business, working with customers and developing the product.

Jonas Hallström was head of development for eSite and is now our CTO. He was the brains behind the eSite x10 concept and patents, including the unique convection cooling system.

Another eSite veteran is Carl-Fredrik Svensson, our COO. He has been deeply involved in all our big rollouts in Africa and Asia and was instrumental in the development of our remote monitoring system, eSite Tools, so he knows eSite inside out.

We’ve retained two very talented Sales Directors in Riana Donaldson, based in Johannesburg, and Chioma Viola Opara in Lagos. And we have an incredibly talented team of hardware and software engineers who have, on average, six years of experience working with eSite.

This all adds up to an incredibly experienced team for a “start-up”!

TowerXchange: How have you simplified the eSite business?

In the past we had a third party manufacture our electronics while Flexenclosure did the final assembly in-house. However, we have now outsourced all manufacturing to HANZA, our international manufacturing partner. This will ensure smoother, quicker production while our core team focuses on product development, sales and customer support.  In this way, we can offer the best products at the best prices with the best lead times.

This structure also means we won’t offer energy as a service. We’re delighted to supply to ESCOs of course, but we won’t bid directly for ESCO contracts.

TowerXchange: How has the development of eSite been affected by the transition?

We have a new iteration of the eSite x10 coming out soon which will deliver a number of exciting enhancements. And while development was inevitably delayed somewhat through the restructuring, we’re now back up to full speed.

TowerXchange: And was there any impact of the restructuring on your Nigerian subsidiary?

Flexenclosure’s daughter company in Nigeria was never in bankruptcy. eSite Power Systems now owns that entity 100 percent, enabling us to provide expert local support, installation and commissioning from our team in Nigeria. It also enables us to do business in naira, which is a critical differentiator in the context of the currency exposure faced by international investors in Nigerian cell sites. 

TowerXchange: Now that eSite Power Systems has been separated, and the funding of the business secured, what are your priorities for the coming year?

The establishment of eSite Power Systems as a standalone company provides us with the ideal platform to further build on the success we had with Flexenclosure, pioneering the development and deployment of some of the most innovative power technology available in the market today.

With all the key elements of the business now in place, from a product perspective our focus in the coming year will be on bringing an enhanced version of eSite x10 to the market and maintaining our leadership position in this technology space. And from a customer perspective we will continue to work closely with both tower operators and ESCOs in order to ensure that eSite x10 is their clear power system of choice.