Unipower is Florida based manufacturer of power conversion products with offices in the U.S., the UK and China. Active for over twenty-five years, the company is now a leading producer of power solutions for the telecom industry.
In this interview, Larry Hamilton, VP of Systems and Sales and Kai Hennum, Senior Product Manager NPS, share their views on the company’s recent developments and restructuring as well as their insights on the future of the energy and power business.
TowerXchange: Please tell us about Unipower’s footprint in the telecom industry.
Larry Hamilton, VP Systems and Sales, Unipower:
Unipower has been focusing on power conversion systems and solutions for the past twenty-five years, that is our core competency and strength. We are also involved in high voltage and other parts of the power world but power conversion is our primary focus.
These solutions have been trending in the broadband space over the past couple of years and we have been able to provide equipment to thousands of sites thanks to our varied offering of systems.
Lately, Unipower acquired the Network Power Systems Division (NPS) of Bel Fuse Inc., which was previously part of Power-One, as well as the Integrated Power Systems division of C&D Technologies Inc. These acquisitions will contribute to further expand our brand as well as out customer base.
Kai Hennum:
PowerOne has gone through a series of acquisitions over the past couple of years and is now part of Unipower which I believe is a great move which will be beneficial for all our global customers. We primarily engage with system integrators at a regional and local level and do not deal with carriers directly.
TowerXchange: How can site owners optimise and automate power source selection?
Larry Hamilton, VP Systems and Sales, Unipower:
You see, originally lots of emphasis was on automation in the most traditional sense such as managing power loads and thanks to companies like Emerson great progress was made years ago in this field. Nowadays, companies are looking at protecting their voice and data channels, securing devices, internet access et cetera and in the meantime, ensuring downtime is minimised as they select optimal alternate power solutions.
In regions like CALA, we are increasingly involved in bringing power to sites connected to unreliable grids or off-grid. Unipower is a market leader and a large component of our strength relies on the ability to select the best alternative source of energy while allowing carriers to directly control the battery cycle, power usage, the status of gensets etc cetera. Evolution means allowing them to access information themselves while protecting their data.
Kai Hennum:
Part of our value proposition is to offer organisations the intelligence to manage their sites and take care of their power equipment, no matter where the sites are located. Being able to receive constant updates on the efficiency of the chosen power solution is key nowadays. It’s a form of enhanced intelligence smart customers require and we are able to offer.
TowerXchange: How can site owners ensure that their equipment is protected? And how can they minimise downtime by leveraging back-up energy sources?
Larry Hamilton, VP Systems and Sales, Unipower:
We are seeing a growing trend of towercos shifting to a site by site type of management of tower portfolios. In fact, towercos are now carefully looking at their energy requirements on a site by site basis to avoid downtime as well as unnecessary expenditure.
For us, this is a great improvement and allows us to tailor our offering directly for each site, which ultimately helps towercos adhere to their SLAs with carriers.
TowerXchange: How have the requirements for these types of products changed? How much research is required to understand what products are best suited for the different types of sites?
Larry Hamilton, VP Systems and Sales, Unipower:
The trend is towards downsizing. This affects most equipment as the goal is to reduce the load on sites. For example, cabinets tend to be smaller now and equipment providers need to adapt to the change.
On the energy front, we are involved in bringing in alternative power solutions, assessing and bringing to market new energy sources such as hybrid energy solutions.
A lot of focus is on the active component of the business at the moment with 4G LTE and everything around it being at the centre of attention. That is where the highest spending is being made.
We, as power providers, are part of the ecosystem and need to understand its dynamics. Decisions with regards to a solution provider tend to be made at a relatively high level and take into consideration characteristics such as the company’s reliability, type of offering, specific solutions and their controllers and number of channels.
Kai Hennum:
In terms of hybrid energy, we have experienced a tremendous learning curve over the past five-six years. We have tested new solutions and technologies and we are constantly evolving to keep up with changes.
On the customer front, they are definitely more aware of their options and bring to the negotiating table more awareness and understanding of available solutions and their characteristics.
TowerXchange: What else has changed since you started dealing with tower companies?
Larry Hamilton, VP Systems and Sales, Unipower:
One factor that changed overtime is the actual use of the tower. In many parts of the world, we’ve seen a shift from microwave to fibre and copper and from 2G all the way to 4G LTE and now, even 5G. So we are seeing new equipment, new load necessity and also, new designs. In fact, tower operators tend to respond to the growing need for aesthetically pleasing sites, especially when built in metropolitan or other landmark areas.
We need to ensure our systems and solutions meet the ever changing requirements of the industry, be they traditional or hybrid power systems. On that note, Unipower has been able to adapt and serve the industry regardless of what their requirements were - this is the great advantage of being a global company with a long standing legacy of expertise and product research.
TowerXchange What is Unipower’s value proposition?
Larry Hamilton, VP Systems and Sales, Unipower:
I think our strength lies on the fact that we are mainly focused on offering micro, small and medium DC power solutions to the industry with a growing focus on options for backhaul, servers et cetera. Thanks to the recent integration between Unipower and our acquisitions, we are even more capable than before to offer our expertise to a variety of customers in the telecom industry.
To give an example, we are increasingly interested in data centres, the market for which we expect to grow by 40% in the near future in the CALA region alone and we foresee our solutions being optimal to go hand in hand with that growth.
At the same time, the wireless business is still expanding in CALA and we are ready and equipped to be part of that growth.
Kai Hennum:
I would like to stress that our hybrid and power solutions are really optimal products to serve the telecom industry. Along with that, we are extremely customer oriented, flexible and able to assess any customer need in a highly reliable way.
