Free power protection hardware in your future? Spotlight on software could make this a reality
Jun 9, 2022
For years, Eaton has taken a unique approach to selling power protection; while most of our competitors focused on hardware, we’ve been committed to leading with software. In fact, the industry as a whole has made a habit of giving away software to enable hardware sales. But don’t be surprised if we see the market turned upside down in the not-too-distant future – with companies giving away commoditized pieces of hardware in order to sell software.
With Brightlayer, we’ve taken our more than 100 years of industry expertise and developed a foundation for providing data and insights that matter to you.
Software: the true value
Eaton has long recognized that software represents the true value for customers. Our channel partners have witnessed this firsthand through our ongoing messaging and marketing campaigns. From the integration of Eaton solutions with leading IT platforms to our obsession with cybersecurity, we’ve always known that our IT-savvy audience cares very little about what’s inside the box (be it a UPS or a PDU). Rather, they’re concerned with how our solutions seamlessly incorporate into their IT infrastructure to deliver tangible business outcomes.
For instance, we’ve long highlighted the unique connectors of our IPM disaster avoidance platform with leading virtualization and hyperconverged infrastructure systems, including VMware vSphere/vCenter/vSAN, Dell VxRail and others. While IPM offers a perfect solution for remote sites such as branch offices and edge computing settings, other environments may require more extensive management capabilities to monitor and supervise power assets located on-premise, at the edge or in the cloud.
VPM and Brightlayer: versatility and innovation
Because of that, we’ve now shifted our focus to the innovative VPM platform. Capable of scaling to cover thousands of devices, VPM is ideal for a wide variety of applications, from data center operators managing rack PDUs to retail chains overseeing potentially hundreds, or thousands, of remote stores. Because the software is concentrated solely on remote management of power assets, it is much easier and faster to deploy for solution providers, requiring very little training and accelerating time-to-revenue compared to more conventional DCIM solutions.
Yet for customers who wish to add more capabilities to their existing monitoring infrastructure, Eaton also provides a migration path to a full DCIM software capability through our Brightlayer Data Center suite. This critical concept of platforming is at the heart of Brightlayer, which will see more functionality added in the near future. One such addition will be EPMS (Electrical Power Management System), providing facility managers who want to monitor their data center electrical supply with fine-grained precision and predictive insights that enable them to better anticipate maintenance needs and reduce the potential cost of downtime. Furthermore, the automated actions and integrations with virtualization systems of IPM will be transferred to the new Brightlayer DC platform, providing the broadest array of capabilities to manage modern hybrid IT systems while closing the bridge between facilities and IT.
Discounted training available
In all likelihood, power products lacking connectivity will soon be something of the past, as the importance of interaction and integration with IT infrastructure continues to be more widely recognized and realized. But Eaton is already well down that path – and we’re continuing to focus on providing fresh ways for partners to reap even more value. To begin with, new software training courses are now available in the PowerAdvantage portal to help you bolster your knowledge and make it even easier to sell these solutions. We’re also offering partners a discount of 20-35% on VPM, VCOM or PredictPulse when you bundle a software purchase with hardware that exceeds $10K (MSRP). This special pricing is effective on orders placed May 1 through December 31, 2022.
Eaton has always been at the forefront of providing solutions with maximum value, evident in our long-standing focus on software. As a PowerAdvantage partner, you’ll continue to reap the benefits of partnering with an industry leader as software takes center stage in the marketplace.