Avocent
Avocent, a business of Vertiv, is an information-technology products manufacturer headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama. Avocent formed in 2000 from the merger of the world's two largest manufacturers of KVM (keyboard, video and mouse) equipment: Apex and Cybex Computer Products Corporation. As of August 2006, the company employed more than 1,800 people worldwide.
Type | Wholly Owned Subsidiary |
---|---|
Founded | 2000 |
Headquarters | Huntsville, Alabama, United States |
Key people | Steve Hassell, President |
Products | KVM switches, serial consoles, IT infrastructure products |
Website | www.vertivco.com |
On October 6, 2009, it was announced that Emerson Electric would buy Avocent for $1.2 billion USD. The tender was finalized on December 11, resulting in Avocent becoming part of Emerson Network Power, a division of Emerson Electric.[1] On August 2, 2016, Emerson announced an agreement to sell Network Power to Platinum Equity.[2] On December 1, 2016, Emerson Network Power announced they were rebranding under the name Vertiv and appointing Rob Johnson as CEO.[3]
Product range
Avocent focuses on out-of-band infrastructure management solutions within seven major fields:
- Server management
- Power management
- Service-processor management
- Console-server management
- KVM management
- IPMI solutions for OEM partners
- A wide range of embedded-software solutions
- Desktop management
- ITIL market
- IT service management
Avocent's product development has spanned three eras:
- the growth of the analog KVM switch - paralleling the growth of server architecture in the data center
- the growth of the digital KVM switch - enabling the remote control of geographically dispersed data-centers
- the diversification and “management” phase (revolving around the acquisition of LANDesk (2006) and Touchpaper software (2008) and the capabilities they provide)
Acquisitions
Avocent's history of acquisitions includes:
- 2001 - Equinox Systems, the makers of various serial communications devices.
- 2002 - 2C Computing, which focused on PCI-bus extension, suitable to remotely connect office users to datacenter-housed PCs.
- 2003 - Soronti, Inc., makers of KVM over IP technology.
- 2004 - Crystal Link Technologies, OSA Technologies, Inc.,[4] and Sonic Mobility, Inc.
- 2006 - Cyclades Corporation and LANDesk Software.
- 2008 - Touchpaper Software and Ergo 2000, an LCD rack-based console maker.
References
- "Information for Our Investors". Avocent.com. Archived from the original on 25 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
- "Emerson Reaches Agreement to Sell Network Power for $4 Billion to Platinum Equity". Retrieved 2017-08-04.
- "Emerson Network Power Rebrands As Vertiv, Appoints New CEO". Retrieved 2017-08-04.
- Splashtop Instant-On Desktop from DeviceVM Archived 2007-10-12 at the Wayback Machine