OutBack Power Systems of Arlington has a new identity. In July, Bellingham-based The Alpha Group announced that OutBack was the newest member of its corporate family and that it would continue operations under the name OutBack Power Technologies Inc.
According to Alpha Technologies Inc. president and COO Drew Zogby, the addition of OutBack to the corporate family should be beneficial to all.
He described OutBack as a company that has the same philosophies, reliability, innovation and customer service as The Alpha Group and its members.
“We think this makes for a really great combination,” Zogby said.
OutBack Power Systems is a nearly decade-old designer and manufacturer of advanced power electronics for renewable energy systems, backup power systems and mobile applications. It was founded by three engineers who felt that the renewable energy industry was ripe for expansion.
In the early days, the firm designed and manufactured integration hardware that was used by solar installers to house and protect power electronics. They next produced a line of inverter products for delivering sine wave power for off-grid residential and commercial installations.
Nowadays, OutBack is known for innovative power conversion solutions that integrate solar, wind and hydro resources to provide reliable electric power for the renewable energy, mobile and backup power markets.
OutBack’s customer base is global and includes residential and commercial clients as well as governments. Essentially, anyone who relies upon solar or wind power as a primary source of energy is a potential customer.
The Alpha Group is an alliance of independent companies. As a whole they develop and manufacture total power solutions for diverse industries including the areas of cable broadband, telecom, wireless, WiMax, utilities, industrial, medical, security, parking, traffic control, access control and commdata.
“We build power electronics and all kinds of battery backup systems and things like that for the world of telecommunications primarily,” Zogby said.
Over the last few years, The Alpha Group had been developing a renewable energy business. But after becoming familiar with OutBack’s portfolio of products they found it fit well with where they had originally hoped to take their own program.
Rather than develop a new infrastructure with their own products, The Alpha Group sought to bring OutBack into the corporate family. Zogby said that this move was also welcomed by OutBack Power Systems founders.
“They were looking for a partner to help them grow and take them to the next step, so it was a neat match both ways,” he said.
Because The Alpha Group has a longer history than OutBack, with international operations in nearly every major market around the world, Zogby feels that the move is very beneficial to the new member company from Arlington. In fact, he said OutBack is already taking advantage of The Alpha Group’s position in those markets.
“They’re able to come right in and use a lot of our existing sales personnel, our existing relationships and also our capability of exporting goods and getting to a lot of far-flung places,” he said.
OutBack will also have access to the additional technology resources from The Alpha Group. The plan is for a lot of new products to be developed by OutBack to address a broader scope of renewable energy applications.
As with any corporate change, there is always concern about what the move will mean to existing employees. The Alpha Group quickly announced that OutBack would continue operations with the existing management team in place at Arlington. There have also been some additions to the team.
“We’ve already brought in some more strength to the marketing area both in technical product management and in marketing,” Zogby said, “We are also going to be adding some other resources as well as adding some engineering resources.”
Although some of the new positions have already been filled, Zogby acknowledged that there were still a few open positions in the engineering area at the time of the interview.
He also emphasized how much Bellingham-based The Alpha Group looked forward to being able to link with talented potential employees further down the I-5 corridor. OutBack’s prime Snohomish County location would be an attractive draw for to those interested in The Alpha Group but perhaps not willing to relocate as far north as its Whatcom County base, he said.
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