Stockport technology company acquired European engineering group

Stockport-headquartered technology company, IPEC, has been acquired by European engineering group, ABB, in order to complement its growing maintenance service portfolio.

IPEC uses advanced monitoring systems track critical electrical infrastructure around the clock, using AI and advanced analytics to protect data centres, healthcare settings, manufacturers and other critical industries from outages. The firm’s acquisition by ABB, for an undisclosed sum, expands ABB’s Electrification Service portfolio and will support its electrification and automation customers to shift to more proactive maintenance and reduce downtime.

Stuart Thompson, Division President, ABB Electrification Service, said:

“Across critical industries, the cost of downtime is staggering, from multi-million-dollar revenue losses in data centers to the safety and reliability risks facing utilities and hospitals. This acquisition gives our customers the diagnostic intelligence they need to prevent failures before they happen. By turning complex monitoring data into clear, actionable insights, we’re enabling businesses to shift from reactive repairs to predictive maintenance, so they can focus on performance while their critical infrastructure runs leaner, cleaner, and smarter.”

IPEC is headquartered in Stockport, UK, with 70 employees across its operations in Oxford, Abu Dhabi, Sweden, Riyadh and Texas. The company has expanded from its UK utility base to serve customers globally, with data centers now representing its largest and fastest-growing market segment.

Dr. Colin Smith, Managing Director of IPEC, said:

“At IPEC, we’ve spent decades refining how partial discharge data can be translated into meaningful diagnostics through advanced algorithms and, more recently, AI and machine learning. By joining ABB, we can both continue to develop our technology and bring our innovations to more industries and markets, turning complex data into predictive insight that anticipates potential failures and enables industries to make more strategic, intelligent decisions about their electrical assets.”