Vertiv is an American multinational provider of critical infrastructure and services for data centers, communication networks, and commercial and industrial environments.
Vertiv began as Capitol Refrigeration Industries, established in 1946 by Ralph Liebert (1918–1984) in Columbus, Ohio. Liebert developed the first prototype precision air conditioner in his garage. In early 1965, the prototype was introduced to IBM in Chicago. Recognising the machine's potential, IBM arranged for Liebert to debut his invention at the World Computer Conference in Philadelphia.[6][7]
Liebert Corporation was formed in 1965 with just five associates to pursue this fast growing market as the industry's first manufacturer of computer room air conditioning (CRAC) systems. Two years later, in 1967, Liebert made its first international move by setting up a Canadian distributor network. In 1968, the company moved into a new facility in Worthington, Ohio. As its business continued to grow, the company broke ground once again and moved into a 150,000 square foot facility in Columbus, Ohio. In 1977, Liebert launched Conditioned Power Corporation to design and manufacture power distribution, conditioning and monitoring systems for the data processing industry.[8]
Expansion continued as Liebert broke ground for a second major manufacturing facility in Delaware, Ohio, in 1980. Ralph Liebert's son, Larry Liebert, took over the company as president in 1980 and served in this position until 1989. In 1981, Liebert became a public company, listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol LIEB. In 1983, Liebert acquired Franklin Electric subsidiary, Programmed Power Corporation, expanding the company's power division capabilities to include the design and manufacture of uninterruptible power supplies (UPS).[8] That same year, Liebert opened its first overseas production facility in Cork, Ireland.[6] Liebert Corporation was acquired by Emerson Electric in March 1987,[9] remaining a wholly owned subsidiary of Emerson.
2000–2016: Emerson Network Power
In 2000, Emerson formed its Network Power (ENP) business unit, consolidating critical infrastructure technologies under a single brand. The following decade saw an expansion of ENP with various acquisitions. In 2001, the company increased is presence in Asia with the purchase of Avansys and formation of ENP India. ENP expanded its telecom industry solutions with the 2004 acquisition of Marconi outside plant and power system. In 2006, ENP acquired Germany-based Knürr, a leading provider of enclosure systems. In 2007, the Energy Logic energy efficiency model was developed and initially released.[10]Avocent and Chloride were acquired in 2009 and 2010 respectively.[11]
2016–present: Vertiv
In December 2016, Platinum Equity acquired the ENP business from Emerson Electric in a transaction valued in excess of $4 billion, completed in December 2016. The company was rebranded as Vertiv. Emerson also retained a subordinated equity piece in the company.[12] Vertiv launched as a stand-alone business and announced the appointment of Rob Johnson as chief executive officer.[13][14] In 2017, Vertiv sold its ASCO power switch business to Schneider Electric for $1.25 billion.[15] The company made three acquisitions in 2018; Energy Labs, Geist and MEMS. Through a merger with a Goldman Sachs-led special purpose acquisition company, GS Acquisition Holdings, the company became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: VRT) on February 10, 2020.[16][17] In 2021, Vertiv acquired E+I Engineering, a global provider of switchgear, busway and modular power solutions, for $1.8 billion.[18] In December 2023, Vertiv acquired CoolTera Ltd, a provider of coolant distribution infrastructure for data center liquid cooling technology, strengthening its thermal management portfolio for high density compute cooling requirements.[19]
In 2023, Vertiv's share price increased 252%, outperforming all companies in the S&P 500 index.[20] The company's market capitalization was valued at over $45 billion as of November 2024.[21]
Critical infrastructure & solutions: AC and DC power management, thermal management, and integrated modular solutions.
Integrated rack solutions: racks, single phase UPS, rack power distribution, rack thermal systems, configurable integrated solutions, hardware and software for managing IT equipment.
Services & spares: preventative maintenance, acceptance testing, engineering and consulting, performance assessments, remote monitoring, training, spare parts, and critical digital infrastructure software.[49] Vertiv has over 220 service centers and employs more than 3,500 service field engineers globally.[48]
Vertiv invests approximately 5% of sales into research and development.[51] In 2023, Vertiv spent $303.5 million on research and development.[52] Vertiv has approximately 2,800 registered patents and 1,700 registered trademarks.[52]
Partnerships
In April 2021, Vertiv was announced as Founding Partner and Official Data Center Equipment Provider of Columbus Crew.[53]
In May 2023, Vertiv was selected by Nvidia after securing a $5m grant from ARPA-E's COOLERCHIPS program. Their joint objective over the next three years is to address the challenge of cooling high-density compute by integrating direct liquid cooling and immersion cooling into a single system. Vertiv was selected for its expertise in heat rejection technology.[54]
In December 2023, Vertiv announced its collaboration with Intel to provide pumped two-phase (P2P) liquid cooling infrastructure for the Gaudi3 AI accelerator.[55]
In March 2024, Vertiv joined the Nvidia Partner Network (NPN) as a Solution Advisor: Consultant partner.[56]
Giordano Albertazzi became Vertiv's Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2023,[58][59] following the departure of former CEO Rob Johnson. On July 1, 2023, Anand Sanghi was appointed President of the Americas region.[60][61]
As of October 30, 2024, the management of Vertiv includes:[62]
^“Emerson Network Power Introduces New Approach to Data Center Energy Optimization”, Press Release from Corporate Web Site [1]Archived 2013-04-09 at archive.today
