I had the opportunity to sit down with Ted Fletcher, owner of FMS Integration LLC. FMS Integration offers custom operational technology products and solutions. With products ranging from remote monitoring, wireless senor technology, and leak detection, they’re capable of enhancing the data center efficiency of any organization. Below is a condensed version of our interview.
[Kyle] Tell me a little bit about yourself, your background, and how you got started in the industry?
Ted: I got started in the Data Center industry back in 2001. I was going back to school for some electronic certificates after being a forklift mechanic for 5 years and started at RLE Technologies making leak detection cable. After a few weeks, they moved me into building circuit boards for different products. A couple months later, I worked with engineering and started learning the use of the products used in the data center industry. I became the first official technical support person at RLE. As time moved on, I also became the RLE field service technician for system startups for leak detection and monitoring solutions. In 2004 I left RLE and moved back east and worked for Fenwal Protection systems for the IEP (Industrial Explosion Protection) group as a field service engineer. I moved back to Colorado in 2008 and was the technical support manager / applications engineer till 2012. I then went to work for FieldView Solutions, which later was acquired by Nlyte Software. I was with them until 2015. I then was hired by CyrusOne to work as an EPMS Engineer for the Electrical Controls department. I worked for CyrusOne until the end of 2020. In January 2021 I officially started FMS Integration LLC.
[Kyle] What is the back story behind FMS Integration? How did it get started?
Ted: Before joining CyrusOne, I was on the fence to start my own company. After five years working for a large Data Center Colo provider, I decided to make my move. Over the years I have grown a passion working with different electrical power devices and the communications used by them. I take great pride in helping facilities with their monitoring/communications needs from the field devices. I love the technology we have available to establish communications and provide different level of monitoring solutions.
[Kyle] How is your offering different than the competition?
Ted: I do not want to be thought of as a one-solution vendor. I believe every application has its own unique design. I will not sell a customer on a $50K software solution if a $3000.00 or $500.00 dedicated monitoring device gets them what they need. I try and help educate and share information with customers on their application from detailed wiring diagrams, easy to ready communication risers and training videos that can be subject specific to their needs and is theirs to retain to help train others within their organization.
[Kyle] What are you seeing in terms of demand for services? Is it more remote monitoring or sensor technology or leak detection?
Ted: I think moving forward, there will always be a fair mix for Wireless Sensor applications and leak detection in the data center world. I would love to educate more people on the wireless sensor technology for laboratory environments and introduce the leak detection line to more industrial and commercial applications. Remote monitoring is the product line I see to continue with great organic growth. As IoT, IIoT and more data collection is required from technology devices, this is a solution that will be evolving for years. As facilities work on optimizing their facilities, the power monitoring options available today give users a lot of data. New installations and retrofits help give a more granular look at what is being consumed and where the on-time (duty-cycle) can be reduced to help facilities save more on their operating costs.
[Kyle] What is the main driver for purchasing services from you that you're seeing from your clients?
Ted: A personal attention to detail to give the customer the best quality of service available. I prefer using monitoring solutions that can expand with the customers growth and needs. A quick example is using products that can use wired Analog 4-20mA sensors, dry contact inputs from devices along with flexibility for protocol data such as Modbus, BACnet and SNMP. As the customer continues to grow and wants to expand to a larger software-based solution, these already deployed devices can output the wired input data to multiple headend systems using open protocols. So, the customer just needs to disable the email notification as they already have an integration device in place.
[Kyle] What’s in store for the future of FMS Integration? New product launches or anything that you want to share?
Ted: We live in amazing times when it comes to technology and the new innovations brilliant people/organizations keep developing. I look forward to learning new solutions and hiring people with the same passion to continue to learn and grow. As new technology solutions are introduced to the marketplace, I plan on keeping up with them as best as possible. I have recently taken the Technical Certification Program from Tridium for the Niagara 4 software/hardware solution. Tridium over the years has developed an amazing product to address a wide array of applications from building controls, power monitoring, lighting, security and more. It is systems like this that help bridge the data gap from multiple systems for a more uniform data sharing for building devices/systems.
