From high-density AI‑driven workloads to growing sustainability pressures, today’s data center providers face a perfect storm of complexity. Operators increasingly need partners that combine repeatable global solutions with the flexibility to adapt to local regulations, resource constraints and nuances.

Partnerships that last beyond the initial commissioning process are also key to driving ongoing success and scalability. That fusion of worldwide reach, a customer-first approach, and genuine end-to-end service is the foundation of Airedale by Modine’s approach to addressing those industry-wide challenges.

Having celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, the company is now expanding its footprint, product portfolio and team members in order to provide complete tailored services to customers across the world, at a local level.

In this episode of DCD>Talks, vice president and general manager of North American data centers at Modine, Robert Bedard, shares why the company is doubling down on global expansion and how this strategy is enabling comprehensive end-to-end support for operators.

The big picture

As part of its wider approach, Airedale is currently expanding into US markets as well as into India. These steps are part of the company’s overarching plan for establishing a global reach. Bedard explains the motivation behind this core approach:

“Let’s call it local for local. We want to manufacture in the region where our customers have needs. So, we’re developing one common global platform, and you can get the same platform anywhere in the world.”

And the expansion isn’t just about footprint, it’s also about providing the right products: “We're somewhat technology agnostic. No matter what kind of challenge we're trying to resolve for our customers, we've got something that can do the work to achieve that,” says Bedard.

That’s the thinking behind Airedale’s product‑portfolio diversification – meeting customers wherever they’re at, with the best solutions.

One of the most important factors driving this strategy is agility. Developing a global footprint enables a fast, flexible response to customer needs – supporting operators with their own market expansions, enabling them to scale up smoothly.

The ability to deliver or swap out equipment without lengthy import delays can shave weeks off construction timelines, something hyperscalers increasingly value as the evolution of AI drives demand, putting increased pressure on project schedules.

Airedale’s presence across these key markets is enabling its customers to establish footprints across regions, too. Rather than supporting operators from one end of the world to the other, the company can deliver a unified, end‑to‑end service, keeping customer needs front and center.

Providing end‑to‑open‑end service

“We get involved right from the design phase. We try to put our customer at the center of everything we do,” says Bedard.

For Airedale, early engagement and commissioning typically incorporates key stakeholders from across every stage of the development process. Bedard explains that it’s really an end‑to‑open‑end process, where initial design and engineering discussions with the customer are just the beginning of a life-long partnership, with Airedale involved all the way through.

To achieve that focused, customer‑first support, the company prioritizes having the same people on‑site throughout the commissioning phase. The Airedale team stays on‑site and manages the equipment as long as they’re required – making the customer‑support process genuinely open‑ended.

Airedale even ensures that it can support product controls all the way through the lifecycle of the data center. “Aside from our standard product range, we have a controls offering which is multi-layered. Every product has controls where we can implement what we call our ‘optimizer’, which groups those products together, with a full BMS system that sits on top of that,” explains Bedard.

That layered stack means a single dashboard can manage and monitor systems remotely from across the globe, while providing operators with a unified view.

Addressing real‑world challenges

With the rapid expansion of the industry and growing power requirements, the overarching concern across the market is capacity – how to scale up to meet demand quickly and effectively. It’s a challenge everyone across the ecosystem faces, and it’s what’s motivating Airedale’s expansion.

“It's why we're investing as much as we are,” says Bedard. “I think we've got a really good track record of being able to expand based on our customers’ needs, and Modine is well positioned to continue to invest in anything that we need going forward as well.”

Another core challenge the company is tackling is the need to streamline processes and reduce complexity from design to installation, and ongoing operations. Delivering complete, integrated solutions is essential to meeting that demand.

“What you get by doing that is the ability to reduce your energy consumption,” explains Bedard. “Because we can proactively manage the way those products interact with each other, and recognize all of the opportunities that are available to us from a turn down point of view.” That flexibility matters in a world where AI workloads can fluctuate dramatically and sporadically.

Underpinning these solutions is a focus on accurate testing. Airedale prioritizes close collaboration between engineering groups and the production teams, followed by rigorous validation of its own products at its own facilities. “It’s all about standing behind the product,” adds Bedard. “And again being able to provide a true end‑to‑end, full‑circle solution and services.”

Creating lasting partnerships

Tailoring solutions and services to unique customer requirements, especially when managing global expansion, is another key challenge for providers such as Airedale. But for Bedard, the first step is simple:

“First off, it's just about listening and understanding what the challenge is that they're trying to solve. And for me, this is one of the really exciting things about the industry – everyone has a different perspective. There's no one way to solve anything.”

Whether it’s driven by geography, site needs or business goals, understanding the requirement in full is key to identifying the best solution and route forward. Airedale’s diverse product portfolio and wide reach mean that it can flex to customer needs and remain agile.

For Bedard, partnerships aren’t just vital with customers, but across the internal networks within the company itself. From software developers, to field‑service engineers it’s that close collaboration and open communication across networks that will be the key ingredients to solving a plethora of layered and complex challenges.

As the conversation comes to a close, Bedard reflects on the exciting opportunities across the data center industry today and looks forward to continuing that current trajectory of growth, innovation and bringing about more opportunities by solving more challenges.

To hear more about how Airedale by Modine is taking on global expansion to provide comprehensive end-to-end support that solves real-world challenges for operators, listen to the full DCD>Talks episode with Robert Bedard, here.