Legrand Acquires Electrorack

Electrorack Products Company, which makes enclosures and cooling products for the data center industry, has been acquired by Legrand, North America, the companies said today.

Legrand specializes in electrical and digital building infrastructures, and said the purchase of Electrorack will boost its manufacturing, engineering and product offerings. Legrand expects demand for cabinets and accessories in data centers, broadcast and broadband, industrial and military markets is expected to expand by 10 percent annually in the United States over the next few years.

A factor in the deal was Electrorack's "excellent fit" with structured cabling solutions from LeGrand's Ortronics brand. Legrand said the acquisition will "drive growth for both Ortronics and Electrorack product lines through innovation and design." The Electrorack management team will remain in place and report directly to Mark Panico, President of the Data Communications division of Legrand, North America.

Legrand is a global company that reported sales of $5 billion in 2009. It has a strong presence in the North American market, with a portfolio of product lines that include Cablofil, On-Q, Ortronics, Pass & Seymour, Vantage, Watt Stopper and Wiremold.

Electrorack is based in Anaheim, Calif. and has been in business for 55 years as a leading manufacturer of enclosures, cabinets, power and cooling for commercial data communications applications.

At last year's Uptime Symposium, Electrorack demonstrated a new rack design which allows two or even three racks of equipment to be housed in a single enclosure and controlled by a single rack-top chimney system. Here's a look at our video demo, in which Todd Schneider, the director of marketing for Electrorack, provides an overview of the new design, which employs a rear cooling plenum and a pressure-sensing management system from Opengate Data Systems.