CyberPower Exec Sees ‘Exceptional Growth’ In Data Center

'We need partners to get these products into those spaces, so we’re all in supporting partners with what they need to win in these situations,' Tim Madsen, vice president of marketing for Minnesota-based uninterrupted power system maker CyberPower, tells CRN. 'We’re evolving and adding products and services to these lines with channel partners in mind. We’re seeing exceptional growth in these product lines.’

Power demands are spiking at an incredible rate in the data center and infrastructure space with industry watchers like Michael Dell expecting data centers to boost electricity consumption by eight-times their current rate when the calendar turns 2030.

It puts partners of CyberPower in a position to capture a massive spend between now and then, Tim Madsen, vice president of marketing for the Shakopee, Minn.-based uninterrupted power system maker, told CRN.

“This is the growth opportunity,” Madsen said. “To address the data center market, we launched our 3-phase UPS series -- CRN’s 2022 Product of the Year --with a channel-only strategy. More computing power needs reliable power … We only sell these through our authorized distributors. Partners don’t need to worry about competing with a direct sales force when selling CyberPower.”

The most sought-after data center products are becoming harder to find. Lisa Miller of data center firm Equinix told CRN earlier this summer that supply and demand are “a little out of whack” while Applied Digital CEO Wes Cummins tells CRN it’s a “feeding frenzy” for anyone with data center supplies.

Madsen said to make the most of these opportunities, CyberPower is going “all in” on partners who are in the field and competing for these deals.

“We can be on-site with partners to assist with installation, startup, and testing,” Madsen told CRN. “Our approach is that if a partner finds a data center or 3-phase opportunity, they can turn to CyberPower as their power expert. We’ll do the ‘power homework’ and either deliver that to the partner or assist directly with their customer.”

It’s not just data center sales, Madsen said. CyberPower partners can also take advantage of training and an education platform that is just for them later this year.

“We surveyed our partners on what they wanted,” he told CRN via email. “Overwhelmingly, the answer was training. In Q3, Q4, we’ll be launching a learning management system that’s exclusive to our partner portal. Partners can get training and become “CyberPower Certified” in basic power concepts, new product launches, sizing power solutions, and more.”

Here are five questions about the power systems management market with Madsen, who attended CRN parent The Channel Company XChange 2024 event this week in Texas.

When I think of CyberPower I think of you having a really unique vantage point because you have insight into the larger power and backup market but your focus on the channel keeps you close to the ground. What I like about that at this particular time, is that I feel like if AI is using more electricity and therefore requiring more backup, then CyberPower would be in a position to say where that swell is hitting the SMB, or if that swell is hitting the SMB. Can you talk about that?

We’re seeing growth in the power category because of the overall growth of devices and IT infrastructure. Is the swell hitting the SMB space? Not yet. Electrical demand for data centers, cryptocurrency applications, and AI computing will double by 2026. These applications will typically need 10kVA+ or 3-phase UPS systems and would be considered “enterprise-level” solutions. As SMBs begin to adopt more AI tools and computing needs, they’ll eventually need it. We see it coming, but the swell hasn’t hit yet.

I was at Dell Tech World earlier this year and they are looking at the data center space as a $1 trillion opportunity, in terms of replacing the existing architecture with next gen systems built to meet AI workloads. I'm sure HPE and Lenovo are also hunting for those opportunities. You have a front row seat to this: how much sales activity at CyberPower is being driven by data center? Or AI data center buildout? Are your partners capturing any of that spend for you folks?

Yes. This is the growth opportunity. In his keynote, Michael Dell stated that “data centers will require 8x their current power consumption by 2030.”

To address the data center market, we launched our 3-phase UPS series -- CRN’s 2022 Product of the Year -- with a channel-only strategy. More computing power needs reliable power. Our line of 3-phase UPS systems, 3-phase PDUs, and online single-phase UPS systems are all great fits for data center environments.

We only sell these through our authorized distributors. Partners don’t need to worry about competing with a direct sales force when selling CyberPower. We need partners to get these products into those spaces, so we’re all in supporting partners with what they need to win in these situations. We’re evolving and adding products and services to these lines with channel partners in mind.

We’re seeing exceptional growth in these product lines, specifically units that have 5k+ VA ratings. In addition, we formed a specific Applications Engineering team to assist partners with building the optimal power solutions for these larger projects and opportunities. We can be on-site with partners to assist with installation, startup, and testing. Our approach is that if a partner finds a data center or 3-phase opportunity, they can turn to CyberPower as their power expert. We’ll do the “power homework” and either deliver that to the partner or assist directly with their customer. Partners have enormous responsibilities when it comes to security, product lifecycle management, support, IoT, etc. They don’t need to be a power expert too; they can turn to us for that portion of the project.

What are the new products you have for partners since the last time we chatted?

The Smart App Sinewave Lithium UPS series was launched around the last time we spoke and just won the CRN 2024 Tech Innovator award in the Power Management category. We’re seeing lots of lithium opportunities especially in the western region of the US and in the education space

Also new is additional UPS systems that are in a compact form factor while providing sine wave output. This appears to be a trend, wanting maximum power protection in minimum rack space. This is very prevalent in the A/V, security, and point-of-sale verticals. Lots of new devices on the edge of networks and all those devices need power protection.

Are there any changes to the partner program since the last time or are you looking at any changes?

We’re working on it. At the beginning of 2024, we surveyed our partners on what they wanted. Overwhelmingly the answer was “training.” In Q3, Q4, we’ll be launching a learning management system that’s exclusive to our partner portal. Partners can get training and become “CyberPower Certified” in basic power concepts, new product launches, sizing power solutions, and more.

Where are CyberPower partners finding opportunity in 2024?

To start the year, education took off. We handed out more free extended warranties to partners quoting education deals than ever before. This was part of our Q1 Free Extended Warranty promotion for FED/SLED deals.

Security and A/V continue to be strong across the board for reasons mentioned above.