Pennsylvania company specializes in manufacturing and integration of customized racks
Vertiv has acquired the Great Lakes Data Racks & Cabinets family of companies, a maker of server racks.
Announced this month, Vertiv bought the company for $200 million. Vertiv said the acquisition is expected to enhance its capacity to deliver pre-engineered, AI-ready rack solutions optimized for the enterprise, Edge, colocation, and hyperscale AI computing markets.
Formed in 1985, the Pennsylvania company specializes in the manufacturing and integration of customized indoor and outdoor racks and enclosures.
Operating manufacturing and assembly facilities in the US and Europe, its portfolio includes standard and custom racks, integrated cabinets, seismic cabinets, and enhanced cable management access options for both retrofit and greenfield applications.
"Great Lakes is a leading rack manufacturer with an extensive portfolio of high-end rack solutions and innovation capabilities that are essential in an increasingly demanding high-density AI infrastructure environment," said Gio Albertazzi, CEO at Vertiv. "With the acquisition of Great Lakes, Vertiv strengthens its position as a premier technology solutions provider in the critical white space market. Our combined capabilities enable us to deliver comprehensive, engineered infrastructure solutions that go beyond basic integration, addressing the complex challenges of next-generation AI technology."
Vertiv has, over its 80-year history, made several acquisitions and divestments. The current iteration of the company was formed after Platinum Equity bought the network power unit from Emerson and took it public via a SPAC merger. Since its rebrand to Vertiv in 2016, the company has made a handful of deals.
In December 2024, Vertiv’s Chinese subsidiary acquired centrifugal chiller technology and assets from BiXin Energy Technology Co. (BSE). In 2023, the firm acquired CoolTera to boost its liquid cooling portfolio, and two years prior, in 2021, the company acquired E+I Engineering, a provider of switchgear, busway, and modular power solutions. In 2018, Vertiv acquired three firms.
In 2017, Vertiv sold its ASCO power switch business to Schneider Electric for $1.25 billion.
