IPS and Huawei: Expanding Businesses with Data Center Facility Solutions in the Hungarian Market

Since 2011, Intelligent Power Solutions (IPS) — a four-star Huawei Certified Service Partner — has been delivering high-level solutions to customers in Hungary, from Information Technology (IT) Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) backup to turn-key data center implementations. As our name suggests, we are dedicated to supporting our customers with first-rate products, excellent service, and innovative solutions. We have a professional service team with more than 25 years of UPS experience and a great partner network in Hungary.

Seeking a Path to Growth

Through seven years of partnership with Huawei, we've seen impressive innovations in the UPS field and have gained invaluable experience in the process. The market has gone through dramatic changes during this time, and Huawei has always been responsive in supporting us.

No matter their size, companies simply cannot succeed on their own. We all need strong partners to grow, develop new services and solutions, and get to market quickly. Before our partnership with Huawei, we had been working with different UPS companies. Despite their big brand names, there were very few improvements in their UPS product lines over the years, as Research and Development (R&D) was not prioritized by these companies. In addition, the scale of projects was small and we had to work with multiple UPS distributors in the country. Still, our primary goal was to unlock new business opportunities and bid on bigger UPS projects with confidence. This goal meant we had to find a long-term partner, one that could adequately support bigger UPS projects and help us break into the data center business.

Sowing the Seeds of a Partnership

The first time we found out about Huawei's UPS solutions was seven years ago. We received a Huawei UPS brochure from one of our partners, and we were surprised by the vast, thorough, and ever-expanding portfolio. In the beginning, we were somewhat skeptical about the product features. That changed when we attended a hands-on session at Huawei's European R&D center in Nuremberg, Germany, and got to see the products in-person. To our surprise, all our doubts were cleared as soon as we saw that all the basic parts of the UPS — such as the long-life capacitors, Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) , and fans — were made with the highest-quality materials. This was the moment that made us consider establishing a partnership with Huawei.

After the visit, we received the demo products, which passed all our testing with ease. Even though our engineers tried their best to kill the units, they were unsuccessful. We saw the opportunity of getting high-quality network energy products at a reasonable price with a well-known brand. It was clear to us that this would be a potent combination to gain an edge on the established UPS players and win bids on even the biggest projects.

Driving Strong Business Growth

"With experience in the Hungarian data center sector extending back to 2004, I have in-depth knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of leading UPS brands," said Peter Perjesi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at IPS. "So, what exactly sets Huawei apart from other vendors? For one, Huawei has been investing heavily to improve its technology, ranked as one of the highest R&D spenders in the world. Huawei's long history in the telecom industry has also enhanced its UPS offerings. For example, Huawei's UPS2000-G series (from 6 kVA) can be connected to a USB stick and a sim card to create a Short Message Service (SMS) gateway, a unique feature in the market. This telecom solution is crucial for our corporate clients, especially in the banking sector, where communication between customers and service providers must adhere to stringent restrictions."

With a vast Hungarian partner network, IPS serves as the bridge between Huawei and customers, bringing Huawei products to market. Satisfied customers come from a variety of industries, from banks to governments and everything in between. Huawei's comprehensive portfolio — spanning UPSs, cooling units, racks, Power Distribution Units (PDUs), cube, and management software — fulfills the diverse needs of customers. Having just one brand covering all products in the solution also reduces the risk of failure.

A dedicated Huawei Channel Manager provides critical support for our projects. Besides attending HUAWEI CONNECT every year, the IPS team also takes part in many technical and Public Relations (PR) events. In the last five years, we've organized many successful events with the local Huawei office, and we've received constant marketing support from them. Over and over again, Huawei has proven that when we needed its expertise, it is ready to deliver for us.

We ensure our IT experts are highly qualified and work seamlessly with their Huawei counterparts, enabling customers to benefit from the most advanced technologies and skills. We are eager and willing to continuously improve our expertise, so we are grateful to have Huawei Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Academy as our partner. Our service team is excited to get onsite experience, and the feedback for the Huawei UPS product has been excellent. In fact, we could count on two hands the number of times we've had service issues after installing hundreds of units.

As a result of this great partnership, our Huawei revenue increased at an annual rate of 20–50% over the last few years. The partnership with Huawei have been fruitful. Indeed, we've just reached another milestone, completing the installation of the first Huawei Fusion Module 2000 data center in Hungary.

Succeeding with Huawei SmartLi UPS

Huawei invests over 10% of its revenue into R&D and quickly responds to market changes and customer needs by constantly updating its UPS solutions. Our customers are confident that Huawei solutions can contribute to their business growth, leading to frequent purchases. The new Lithium battery solution is of particular interest to our customers due to its strengths compared to competing products. We predict the market share of Li-ion battery solutions will reach 35% by 2025, compared to just 1% in 2016.

Nowadays, Chief Information Officers (CIOs) have very high requirements for UPS solutions. Businesses not only want to maximize space utilization and energy efficiency, they also want to minimize Operations and Maintenance (O&M) costs. Our customers count on their UPS investment to keep them productive and competitive, so they expect a longer service life. The Huawei SmartLi UPS solution, with its decreasing raw material costs and unique patented technology, meets all of the above requirements. A Li-ion battery power system designed for data centers, this solution ensures a reliable power supply while slashing the physical footprint by 50%, in turn increasing revenue — by freeing up more space for revenue-generating cabinets — and lowering overall costs for enterprises.

At IPS, we are dedicated to supporting our customers with first-rate products, exceptional service, and innovative solutions. Our team has recognized the huge potential of Huawei SmartLi UPS, so we've immediately offered this new solution to our partners. As a result, in September, we already completed the first SmartLi UPS installation in Hungary.

The Best is Yet to Come

We are excited about the future of the IPS-Huawei partnership, which is rooted in our shared goal of driving value for our customers while helping them solve complex technical and business problems. We firmly believe that by partnering with Huawei, IPS will grow faster to become a key player in the Hungarian UPS market. It is an amazing journey that we started with the help of Huawei.