Vertiv

History

1946–1965: Capitol Refrigeration Industries

Vertiv began as Capitol Refrigeration Industries, established in 1946 by Ralph Liebert (1918-1984) in Columbus, Ohio. Liebert developed the first prototype precision air conditioner in his garage. In early 1965, the prototype was introduced to IBM in Chicago. Recognising the machine's potential, IBM arranged for Liebert to debut his invention at the World Computer Conference in Philadelphia.

1965–2000: Liebert Corporation

Liebert Corporation was formed in 1965 with five associates as the industry's first manufacturer of computer room air conditioning (CRAC) systems. Two years later, in 1967, Liebert made its first international move by establishing a Canadian distributor network. In 1968, the company moved into a new facility in Worthington, Ohio. As its business continued to grow, the company broke ground once again and moved into a 150,000 square foot facility in Columbus, Ohio. In 1977, Liebert launched Conditioned Power Corporation to design and manufacture power distribution, conditioning and monitoring systems for the data processing industry.

Expansion continued as Liebert broke ground for a second major manufacturing facility in Delaware, Ohio, in 1980. Ralph Liebert's son, Larry Liebert, took over the company as president in 1980 and served in this position until 1989. In 1981, Liebert became a public company, listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol LIEB. In 1983, Liebert acquired Franklin Electric subsidiary, Programmed Power Corporation, expanding the company's power division capabilities to include the design and manufacture of uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). That same year, Liebert opened its first overseas production facility in Cork, Ireland. Liebert Corporation was acquired by Emerson Electric in March 1987, remaining a wholly owned subsidiary of Emerson.

2000–2016: Emerson Network Power

In 2000, Emerson formed its Network Power (ENP) business unit, consolidating critical infrastructure technologies under a single brand. In 2001, the company increased its presence in Asia with the purchase of Avansys and formation of ENP India. ENP expanded its telecom industry solutions with the 2004 acquisition of Marconi outside plant and power system. In 2006, ENP acquired Germany-based Knürr, a provider of enclosure systems. In 2007, the Energy Logic energy efficiency model was developed and released. Avocent and Chloride Group were acquired in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

2016–present: Vertiv

In December 2016, Platinum Equity acquired the ENP business from Emerson Electric in a transaction valued in excess of $4 billion. The company was rebranded as Vertiv, and Emerson retained a subordinated equity stake. Vertiv launched as a stand-alone business and appointed Rob Johnson as chief executive officer.

In 2017, Vertiv sold its ASCO power switch business to Schneider Electric for $1.25 billion. The company made three acquisitions in 2018: Energy Labs, Geist and MEMS. Through a merger with a Goldman Sachs-led special purpose acquisition company, GS Acquisition Holdings, Vertiv became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: VRT) on February 10, 2020.

In 2021, Vertiv acquired E+I Engineering, a global provider of switchgear, busway and modular power solutions, for $1.8 billion. In 2023, Vertiv's share price increased 252%, outperforming all companies in the S&P 500 index.

In March 2026, the company was added to the S&P 500 under the Industrials GICS Sector. As of 2026, the company is also part of the Fortune 500 list (No. 416) and of the 2025 Forbes Global 2000 (No. 1,174).

Markets

Vertiv's primary customers are businesses across three main end markets: data centers, communication networks and commercial & industrial environments. Vertiv's principal offerings include:

Infrastructure & solutions: AC and DC power management, thermal management, and integrated modular solutions.

Integrated rack solutions: racks, single phase UPS, rack power distribution, rack thermal systems, configurable integrated solutions, hardware and software for managing IT equipment.

Services & spares: preventative maintenance, acceptance testing, engineering and consulting, performance assessments, remote monitoring, training, spare parts, and critical digital infrastructure software. Vertiv has over 320 service centers and employs more than 5,000 service field engineers globally.

In 2025, the company received 62% of its revenue in the Americas; 20% from Asia–Pacific; and 18% from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Manufacturing facilities

Vertiv has manufacturing facilities located in Delaware, Ohio; Ironton, Ohio; Lincoln, Nebraska; Anderson, South Carolina; Pelzer, South Carolina; Tijuana, Mexicali, Monterrey, Reynosa, Letterkenny, Burnfoot, Campsie, Bologna, Tognana, Volyne, Rugvica, Nové Mesto nad Váhom, Ras Al Khaimah, Ambernath, Chakan, Pune, Mianyang, Jiangmen and Johor.

Research and development

Vertiv invests approximately 5% of sales into research and development. In 2025, Vertiv spent $441.7 million on research and development. Vertiv has approximately 3,000 registered patents and 1,900 registered trademarks.

Partnerships

In April 2021, Vertiv was announced as Founding Partner and Official Data Center Equipment Provider of Columbus Crew.

In May 2023, Vertiv was selected by Nvidia after securing a $5m grant from ARPA-E's COOLERCHIPS program. Their joint objective over the next three years is to address the challenge of cooling high-density compute by integrating direct liquid cooling and immersion cooling into a single system. Vertiv was selected for its expertise in heat rejection technology. In December 2023, Vertiv announced its collaboration with Intel to provide pumped two-phase (P2P) liquid cooling infrastructure for the Gaudi3 AI accelerator.

In March 2024, Vertiv joined the Nvidia Partner Network (NPN) as a Solution Advisor: Consultant partner. In June 2024, Vertiv entered a strategic technology partnership with Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ: BLDP), a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell company, to develop hydrogen fuel cell backup power solutions for data centers and critical infrastructure, scalable from 200 kW to multiple megawatts. The partnership targets zero-carbon and low-carbon alternatives to conventional diesel backup generators and covers deployments in North America and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

In October 2024, Vertiv co-developed with Nvidia a complete 7-megawatt reference architecture for the Nvidia GB200 NVL72 platform, enabling customers to configure traditional data centers as AI factories. The reference design was released publicly at the OCP Summit.

In November 2024, Vertiv and Compass Datacenters announced a collaboration to develop a hybrid cooling solution capable of switching between air and liquid cooling to accommodate both conventional and high-density AI computing workloads. The initial units were scheduled for deployment at a Compass facility in the first quarter of 2025 as part of a multi-year supply arrangement.

In July 2025, Vertiv and Oklo Inc. (NYSE: OKLO), an advanced nuclear technology company, announced a collaboration to co-develop power and thermal management solutions for hyperscale and colocation data centers powered by steam and electricity from Oklo's small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear power plants. A pilot technology demonstration was planned for the initial Oklo Aurora powerhouse at Idaho National Laboratory.

Competitors

Vertiv's competitors include Schneider Electric, Eaton, Legrand, Huawei, Delta Electronics, Stulz, Johnson Controls, and Socomec.

Brands

Vertiv produces AC and DC power management products, switchgear and busbar products, thermal management products, integrated rack systems, and modular and management systems for monitoring and controlling digital infrastructure.

Vertiv's brands include:

Albér (Battery Monitoring)

Avocent (IT Management)

E+I Engineering Group (Electrical Switchgear, Modular Power, Energy Management)

Energy Labs (Commercial and Industrial Thermal)

Geist (Rack PDU)

Liebert (AC Power and Thermal)

NetSure (DC Power)

PowerBar (Busbar Trunking)

Leadership

Giordano Albertazzi became Vertiv's Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2023, following the departure of former CEO Rob Johnson.