International energy management giant Schneider Electric, which supplies power-control products and services for thousands of IT systems, on April 5 acquired Lee Technologies, a services bureau for North American data centers.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Lee Technologies, based in Fairfax, Va., specializes in 24/7-type data center services, such as remote monitoring command centers and on-site critical facility operations. It specializes in customer segments that include federal government, financial services, telecommunications, information technology and health care. Lee has about 300 employees and in 2010 generated sales of about $140 million.
Schneider is joining a spate of other companies from peripheral data center-related markets that are getting into data center management. Others in this category include Cisco Systems (originally networking), Iron Mountain Digital (data archiving) and Emerson’s Avocent (IT consulting).
With the new acquisition, France-based Schneider Electric obtains new capabilities in general consulting, site assessment, design, equipment specification and selection to integration, commissioning, facility operations staffing, maintenance and proactive 24/7 remote monitoring.
This full slate of services will bolster Schneider Electric’s IT business skills in data center management, Laurent Vernerey, executive vice president of Schneider Electric IT business, said.
The data center segment has been one of the world’s fastest growing users of energy for the last decade.