Vertiv, a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, has opened its African head office in Johannesburg.

According to Wojtek Piorko, the recently appointed managing director for Vertiv Africa, the opening of the South African premises forms an important part of Vertiv’s ‘Africa for Africa’ initiative and underscores the organisation’s investment in the region. The new facility includes the company’s Customer Experience Centre which provides customers with the opportunity to engage with Vertiv’s diverse range of critical infrastructure solutions for applications from the edge of the network to the cloud.

These include:

• Vertivä SmartCabinetä – a complete cabinet solution for a multitude of environments, providing intelligent and integrated infrastructure for any type of IT
• Vertivä Liebertâ EXS – compact and flexible three-phase uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with high-efficiency operation
• Vertivä Liebertâ EXM2 – highly reliable monolithic UPS designed to provide industry-leading performance and efficiency up to 98.8%, for mid-size critical applications

In addition to the products displayed at the centre, Vertiv offers the experience of its large-scale modular data centres, power and thermal management solutions through virtual reality (VR) to African customers. The VR option allows clients to embark on a unique virtual trip to experience Vertiv's capabilities, giving both novices and seasoned experts of Vertiv products a way to fully understand the entire layout of the critical digital infrastructure.”

Users wear a headset and use hand controllers to navigate the VR environment, interact with equipment, and watch animations that demonstrate a product’s value and key features. They can observe the spatial placement of Vertiv's rack and row solutions, as though they were actually on site. They are also able to customise a Vertiv VR rack by placing servers, power, thermal, and storage devices into the unit.

Piorko was joined recently by a number of senior Vertiv leaders for the African head office roof wetting celebration, including Karsten Winther, president of the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region; Peter Lambrecht, VP of sales for EMEA; Vicente Chiralt, VP of marketing for EMEA; Viktor Petik, VP and global leader for Vertiv’s Integrated Modular Solutions business ; Kjell Lovqvist, VP for DC power and outdoor enclosures for EMEA; Andrea Ferro, VP for Technology Application and Market Development; and Juraj Sekera, transformation director EMEA.