An independent reference for people who have to buy storage

Facilities and energy managers who have been asked to evaluate a storage proposal. Developers and EPCs sizing systems for commercial sites. Consultants who need a defensible answer on a code question. Anyone who has to put their name on a specification and would prefer it to survive review.

It is not written for people who want to be sold to. If you know what you want and just need a quote, a vendor will serve you faster than we will.

Storage is sold by the companies that manufacture it, and much of the trade coverage is funded by those same companies. The research that would settle a specification question is priced for utilities. So the default buying process becomes a sequence of vendor calls, each framing the comparison around whatever that vendor happens to be good at.

The results are predictable: systems sized for the wrong duty cycle, layouts that fail fire code review late, warranties that do not cover the failure mode that actually occurs, and no plan at all for what happens when the asset reaches end of life.

We publish the comparison a buyer needs before taking the first vendor call, with the sources recorded so it can be checked.

Xenco Labs Inc. also publishes independent comparison and verification work in IT asset disposition. The disciplines overlap more than they appear to: both come down to whether a processor is who they claim to be, and whether the paperwork proves where the material actually went.