Press Release
Bloom Energy Launches Mission Critical Systems Practice: Hewlett-Packard’s Peter Gross Joins Bloom and Leads New Business Expansion
Sunnyvale, CA, March 14, 2012 — Bloom Energy makes key moves to bring advanced, clean, secure mission critical energy to help improve data security and reduce disruption to mission critical government and business processes.
Bloom Energy today announced the formation of its Mission Critical Practice to be led by Peter Gross, a widely recognized authority in the design and implementation of advanced mission critical IT solutions, including data centers. Gross was a co-founder and CEO of EYP Mission Critical Facilities, Inc., the premier consulting and engineering firm dedicated to the design and operations of data centers.
Gross, formerly Vice President and Managing Partner Global Consulting, Hewlett-Packard Company joined Bloom Energy on March 12, 2012 as Vice President, Mission Critical Systems. "Bloom Energy will now fill a critical need in the data center industry," says Gross. "By providing a reliable, clean and stable energy source that is immune to disruptions to the grid, Bloom will help its customers reduce their security risks considerably, while at the same time improving efficiency and cutting greenhouse gas emissions."
The Bloom Energy Server is based on revolutionary solid oxide fuel cell technology that converts fuel to electricity through an electro-chemical reaction, without any combustion, at the world's highest level of efficiency. As a result the electricity produced by a Bloom Energy Server is 50% cleaner than that produced by the electrical grid with no harmful Sulfur Dioxide or Nitrogen Oxide emissions.
Because Bloom Energy Servers are located on- site with the customer, they are not vulnerable to disruptions to the power grid caused by human intervention or natural disaster.
With its expansion into data center security, Bloom Energy is addressing an issue of growing national and international concern. Data centers have the same relationship to information as banks do to money—this is where the new "treasure" of information lives and is served from to power our 21st century information age. Speaking before Congress recently, Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) described rising threats to the national information infrastructure as "Nothing less than a matter of national security," noting that "The Secretary of Defense has warned that the next Pearl Harbor could be a cyber attack."
Sabotage is only one threat. In October, 2011, an early snowstorm knocked out power in Connecticut for nearly a week, threatening and often disrupting business. More than 18 major grid outages resulting from extreme weather have occurred in the United States over the last 10 years alone. Outages have been estimated to cost from $330,000 an hour up to $2,800,000 an hour depending upon the industry sector, according to a study by Network Computing.
Adding to the threat of disruption by either nature or sabotage is the growing concern over the cost to the climate of powering data centers. Greenpeace last year released "How Dirty is Your Data?," a report criticizing leading companies for relying on highly polluting energy sources, which has mobilized significant pressure on industry to consider other, cleaner ways of meeting data center energy demands.
Bloom Energy believes these forces will result in a major change in the information age is powered and secured. With the formation of its Mission Critical Systems practice, Bloom Energy is taking a leadership position in ensuring that our economy and our society are made secure and are powered by clean, reliable and affordable 21st century technology.
About Bloom Energy
Bloom Energy is a provider of breakthrough solid oxide fuel cell technology generating clean, highly-efficient onsite power from multiple fuel sources. Founded in 2001 with a mission to make clean, reliable energy affordable for everyone in the world, Bloom Energy Servers are currently producing power for several Fortune 500 companies and notable non-profit organizations including Google, Walmart, eBay, Staples, The Coca-Cola Company, Caltech and Kaiser Permanente. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA with plans for expanding its manufacturing facilities to Delaware in 2012. For more information, visit www.Bloomenergy.com.
