Emerson is a US$25bn conglomerate comprised of five different business platforms, including Emerson Network Power, which primarily supports telecom and data centre customers. TowerXchange spoke to two senior executives within Emerson Network Power’s telecom-focused Energy Systems business to learn about the company’s broad product and service capabilities.
TowerXchange: Where does Emerson Network Power fit in the telecoms infrastructure supply chain?
Gary Niederpruem, VP of Global Marketing and Strategic Planning, Energy Systems, Emerson Network Power:
Emerson Network Power’s Energy Systems group focuses on the critical infrastructure for both core and access sites. We have a broad portfolio of products and solutions that includes: automatic transfer switches for utility grid and generator interfaces, AC UPS systems, DC power for core and access sites, cooling solutions for data centres, enclosures for power and equipment, monitoring and management capabilities, and comprehensive service offerings.
The breadth of products and services Emerson Network Power is able to offer is one of our key differentiators.
TowerXchange: What is your installed base in emerging markets, particularly Africa?
Nevan Witchell, Managing Director, SSA, Emerson Network Power:
We’ve been operating in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) for decades, and our installed base is in the thousands if not tens of thousands of product installations. Those installations support critical infrastructure with DC power, hybrid solutions, thermal management and integrated shelter solutions.
Emerson Network Power has sales and service representation in most countries in SSA, sometimes maintaining direct relationships with operators, at other times working with systems integrators or partners for power and thermal management.
TowerXchange: Tell us more about these ‘integrated shelters’.
Nevan Witchell, Managing Director, SSA, Emerson Network Power:
We have many types of integrated shelters; some are on-demand data centres, central offices or core switching centres, while others provide the energy and thermal management infrastructure for smaller deployments and remote nodes.
We recently had a large project where a customer needed a core site up and running quickly in a very remote region. We worked with the CTO and their technical team to establish how to achieve their objectives using our technology - starting with the customers’ pain points is a vital part of our approach. Since our integrated modular shelters are designed, built and tested at the factory, they can be rapidly installed onsite which was one of the key challenges for this customer. Thanks to our broad expertise we could take this project from equipment production to installation onsite, to full commissioning of the infrastructure in less than 12 weeks compared to a traditional brick and mortar installation which can take up to six months to complete. The above is backed up by remote monitoring and in-country maintenance and field services.
TowerXchange: How has Emerson Network Power been able to support your customers in the battle to reduce Africa’s crippling energy opex costs?
Nevan Witchell, Managing Director, SSA, Emerson Network Power:
Emerson Network Power introduced hybrid energy solutions into the access network in SSA in 2005, when energy opex first emerged as a critical issue, and that had a huge impact. There are many variables that contribute to defining what each customer thinks is important at a site - these range from site load to site locality to the criticality of the site and of course any planned expansion of the site in the future.
Furthermore, different operators have different approaches - some want zero-capex models; some accept some capex up front, with longer-term opex savings. Some operators believe in battery preservation to reduce their carbon footprint, while others take a shorter-term view on battery life to drive short term OPEX savings. This is why we look beyond product and focus on the complete solution. We look at sites on an individual basis, deploying hybrid and solar solutions where appropriate, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach across thousands of sites.
Gary Niederpruem, VP of Global Marketing and Strategic Planning, Energy Systems, Emerson Network Power:
In core sites, no one situation is the same; everything is nuanced, and there can be substantial capex and opex required for a single facility. However, there also are substantial - and often untapped - opportunities for opex savings. When we audit core facilities, we identify several ways to realise those savings, whether through cooling, power systems, electronics, lighting or layout, and almost always incorporating intelligent monitoring and controls. Emerson has substantial auditing and engineering expertise - an area where our Services team also excels.
TowerXchange: How do you strike a balance between the need to customise energy solutions to meet the needs of each site, and the financial imperative to standardise where possible to reduce cost and complexity?
Gary Niederpruem, VP of Global Marketing and Strategic Planning, Energy Systems, Emerson Network Power:
That’s a constant debate, and our solution is to offer base components and building blocks that can be integrated and delivered relatively easily. We can configure those base components and building blocks to quickly create a customised solution.
Nevan Witchell, Managing Director, SSA, Emerson Network Power:
If it’s a substantial network upgrade or greenfield site rollout, we might take a small sample of sites, surveying the environment at those sites, and use that input to push the standardisation of solutions as far out in front of us as possible.
TowerXchange: What data inputs do you need to dimension one of those upgrade or greenfield site rollouts?
Nevan Witchell, Managing Director, SSA, Emerson Network Power:
We blend a lot of technical inputs, factor in whether the customer is taking a long-term or short-term approach to RoI, and devise the best solution to meet the customer’s needs. We usually start with site load, which isn’t a simple number to identify. The range can be quite broad, and even sites running the same equipment in different areas can have different loads. It’s also important to prepare a site to cope with the largest potential load required.
Of course everyone would love to eliminate both capex and opex, but that’s not realistically going to work. We work with the customer to find a reasonable investment with a reasonable RoI period to ultimately deliver better opex savings in the long term.
Gary Niederpruem, VP of Global Marketing and Strategic Planning, Energy Systems, Emerson Network Power:
We also need to consider location in order to effectively dimension a cell site. How physically remote a cell site is might determine whether it uses dual diesel generators on one extreme or 100% renewables on the other, and of course grid availability and stability is key. We have solar profiles and array maps that predict the number of hours of sunshine per day to determine whether solar is an option or not. Another factor is the criticality of the site - smaller access sites versus critical macro sites. We consider all of these things.
TowerXchange: Is the zero-capex energy as a service business model a realistic option in emerging markets yet?
Gary Niederpruem, VP of Global Marketing and Strategic Planning, Energy Systems, Emerson Network Power:
I think there is a market for some form of capex financing where payment comes through shared opex savings, but most of the time the energy service provider has trouble making the long-term economics work. We have executed some programmes with financing involved, but I believe the traditional capex model will still exist 3-5 years from now. People are experimenting with the ESCO model, but we don’t believe it will be the predominant business model in the near-term. Ultimately we’ll stay close to our customers and be responsive to their needs.
TowerXchange: Tell us about the role remote monitoring and management plays in your solutions.
Nevan Witchell, Managing Director, SSA, Emerson Network Power:
Remote monitoring and management is critical everywhere, but especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. We are dealing with remote sites in difficult-to-reach locations and extreme environments. Anything that can minimise site visits without impacting performance is incredibly valuable. Effective monitoring and management does that. Additionally, tower operators must improve visibility into their networks to manage them effectively and efficiently, ensure reliability and deliver their full potential opex savings.
Gary Niederpruem, VP of Global Marketing and Strategic Planning, Energy Systems, Emerson Network Power:
Monitoring and managing critical infrastructure is essential. Emerson Network Power’s monitoring and management solutions can work with any equipment, however they deliver a richer set of information and maximum control when married up with our own equipment.
We’re not thinly engaged in different verticals and moving sideways into telecoms - our Energy Systems group has 50-60 years of domain knowledge in telecom and data centre infrastructure, globally as well as in Africa
TowerXchange: Finally, please sum up how you differentiate Emerson Network Power from your competitors.
Gary Niederpruem, VP of Global Marketing and Strategic Planning, Energy Systems, Emerson Network Power:
With the convergence of data centres and telecommunications, core sites increasingly will be mixed model applications. One of Emerson Network Power’s unique qualities is our ability to provide a broad portfolio of energy solutions supporting this evolving, converging space; AC or DC, monitored or unmonitored, sold or installed.
Emerson is a global company with many global clients. Even where our clients have a more localised footprint, we can share best practices learned worldwide. We have a prevue over macro trends in different regions that provides us with unique insights to address customer problems.
We’ve invested R&D to develop our monitoring and management capabilities because we think visibility is critical. And we have our own service arm, so we can dispatch our people to resolve any alarms.
Finally, this is what Emerson Network Power does. We’re not thinly engaged in different verticals and moving sideways into telecoms - our Energy Systems group has 50-60 years of domain knowledge in telecom and data centre infrastructure, globally as well as in Africa.
Visit Emerson Network Power at booth #27 at the TowerXchange Meetup, taking place on October 1 and 2 in Johannesburg. For more information, click here
