Vacon is a global manufacturer of variable-speed AC drives for adjustable control of electric motors, and inverters for producing energy from renewable sources. The company has headquarters in Vaasa, Finland. Vacon has production and R&D facilities in Europe, Asia and North America, sales offices in 30 countries, and sales representatives and service partners in nearly 90 countries. The shares of Vacon Plc are quoted on the main list of the Helsinki stock exchange. In 2013, Vacon’s revenues amounted to EUR 403.0 million, and the company employed globally approximately 1,600 people. Typically, electric motors are equipped with variable speed AC drives as they help optimize process control and save electrical energy. Vacon has estimated that in 2013 its products helped save approximately 55 TWh of energy. This corresponds to approximately 22 hours of the world's annual electrical energy production. Also, the amount of energy produced from renewable energy sources with Vacon's AC drives was reported to be approximately 22 TWh.
Visit from President Obama On January 15, 2014, former US President Barack Obama visited Vacon’s R&D facility at the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. Following a tour of the premises, he gave a speech to students at North Carolina State University where he mentioned how Vacon “is making these engines and these systems more efficient, saving businesses big bucks on energy costs, improving the environment. Those savings get passed on to customers, puts money in people’s pockets. And growing companies that need the products that Vacon makes, they’re benefiting enormously. So it’s a good-news story. But in a global economy, that company, just like every company in America, has to keep inventing and innovating in order to stay on the cutting edge. And that’s where all of you come in.” Stuxnet Virus Vacon NX frequency converter drives, also known as variable-frequency drives, were one of the two types of converters targeted by the Stuxnet Virus at the Iranian enrichment facility in Natanz, Iran. The worm would search a PLC for the specific identification number, in this case 9500h, that is assigned to the Vacon converter. Once found, the worm would continue to execute.
