While natural resources are being drained slowly, energy costs are rising and demand for advanced power supply options is increasing. One of these options is digital power supply, which provides advanced power efficiency and improved power factor correction (PFC). With over 10 years of experience in the high-efficiency power supply unit (PSU) sector, Compuware Technology has been at the forefront for developing such technology and plans to be sporting various prototypes at Computex 2013. Compuware's associated VP Ivy Yeh spoke with Digitimes about what the company will be sporting at the event and what kind of trends it is preparing for in the future.
Q: Compuware's theme for Computex 2013 is digital power supply. Please explain why the company chose this, as well as what kind of products can use digital power.
A: Compuware believes that using digital design concepts will enhance power performance for all sorts of companies. As digital power supply demand is increasing in the market, vendors who can produce power supply products with better efficiency and improved PFC as well as less TDH percentage will also be in high demand - a trend that Compuware wants to show it is taking seriously. Also, while improvements to the above-mentioned factors are not necessarily new to redundant power supply, there are few vendors who can mass produce digital power, which is where Compuware comes in. The company wants to emphasize at Computex 2013 that it has already established an integrated supply chain for providing various redundant power supply products such as 800W/1280W/1400W/2000W redundant power supply units, all of which visitors can view at the event.
Q: High-density power supply is also a focus for Compuware at Computex. What advantages does this technology have in the market and what kinds of customers are likely to use it?
A: The width of a standard 19-inch chassis is fixed; however, for some high-end applications of which the motherboard and GPU card might occupy more space, a compact size power supply that has high density may be requested by the system integrator.
For example, high density power supply will be the necessary mechanical design to fit in a 1U system demanding 1+1 redundant power solution. For this situation, Compuware has made its 400W/500W/600W/700W/980W models. If it is a GPU application, the GPU card will occupy more space, and thus, there will be less space for power supply. Additionally, HPC (high performance computing) and SC (supercomputing) applications request more memory slots on the main board. In that case, the size of the main board will be larger than a normal one and there will be smaller space for power supply.
Q: Why are companies going to choose your products in the market? What are the company's strengths and advantages over other competitors?
A: Compuware has been dedicated to create new products for such segments as cloud computing, supercomputing, high-performance computing and servers to meet new market demand, and focuses on implementing high-efficiency performance and high-density design into its products. These aspects have given Compuware a wide range of customers who continue to come back to us over the years, which continues to push the company's reputation in the server industry.
Q: How are Compuware's new products adapting to new market trends?
A: As the cloud computing concept keeps growing, demand for solutions including servers, storage, and data centers is also growing. Green products are also a key trend in the IT industry as well, thus higher efficient and performing power supplies are gaining more traction as solid system solutions. High efficiency is in high demand in the market, which happens to be the core value and strength of Compuware.
Q: What other trends does Compuware see occurring in the market throughout 2013 and into 2014?
A: Efficiency. This is still the key factor for now and in upcoming years in order to meet both green trends as well as help companies save costs.
Q: How does Compuware's Taiwan branch as well as its manufacturing plants in Taiwan play a role in the development of the company's overall performance?
A: The R&D team located in the Compuware Taiwan office offers high-end redundant power supply to the market. The branch also pays close attention to the reliability of every new product's power supply and its overall NPI (new product introduction). The Taiwan manufacturing plants meanwhile communicates with the R&D team to control the NPI state as to ensure quality.