Rittal debuts it POC in APAC and Middle East

Mumbai : Racks and enclosures manufacturer Rittal GmbH & Co has put into
action a new business strategy to increase customer and channel partner
awareness about its data center solutions. It will set up five IT hubs in the
Asia Pacific region and has flagged off the first one with a center in Mumbai.
The others will soon be opened at Hong Kong, Dubai, Tokyo and Shanghai.

Talking about Rittal's decision to use Mumbai as its starting base for such an
important and cost-intensive strategy, the company's Sr VP-International
Sales-Asia Pacific and Middle East, Dr Harald Werner said, "India is one of the
most promising business regions for us which is why when we embarked on this new
initiative we wanted to start with India."

These data centers will also signal Rittal's metamorphosis from a racks and
enclosures manufacturer to a total data center solution provider with solutions
available around cooling, security, power and remote management. These will be
marketed under the brand name 'Rimatrix 5'.

Werner conceded that while Rittal was well known in Europe for its expertise in
data center solutions, the same was not the case in the APAC region, which made
it all the more imperative for the company to create a centre where customers
could come to touch and feel the product. "Our racks use the liquid cooling
concept and most CIOs are wary of the concept as they have not seen it beyond
brochures and booklets. We have this functional setup using the liquid cooling
package (LCP) which is the backbone for our Mumbai office and the message we
want to give customers is that we that unlike other vendors we are not
showcasing our solutions in a sterile environment but instead we are using it
for our operations ourselves," said A K Nathan, MD, Rittal India.

As the company makes a shift from a manufacturer to a complete data center
solution provider, it expects the same transition from its channel partners. It
is clear that it does not want to work with dealers who just trade in its
products, but are actively seeking partners who are open to offering a wide
palate of solutions around the data center.

But as most partners today lack the technical skill sets to offer consultancy
pre-services to customer as well as post-sales support, the company is also
devising some programs which will enable them with the knowledge. "We expect to
announce this by end of March 2009 as we are putting the finishing touches on it
right now," said Werner, adding that over time only the partners who offer these
services will be able to scale their business, while the trading channel will
soon find themselves at the risk of stepping into oblivion.