The result · what the measurement shows
The gap is now measurable, it is widening in AI answers, and part of it can be fixed in hours.
The result · the live radar, 24 Sep 2026
Sixteen rival moves checked at their own source. Six sell the same promise as Maximus with more scale. The competitive risk is already inside deals: leadership added Caterpillar ECS from a live opportunity.
Rival kitchens now write “mixed-brand” on their menus. The rival documents read do not report measured behavior of a whole mixed-brand site with the cloud link down; two rivals already publish cases with figures.
rival moves checked at their own source
sell the same promise as Maximus with more scale behind it
rival documents load sharing across controller brands on one site
rivals on this radar publish measured behavior of a whole site with the cloud down
The six high-risk moves
Generac's fleet cloud, sold in Europe under the Pramac name: it watches equipment of any manufacturer and starts or stops it remotely.
Generac's fleet cloud in the United States: it watches and dispatches generators of many makes. Its ARC product adds a local microgrid controller.
ComAp's cloud reports for hybrid sites: energy, fuel, batteries and carbon in one dashboard, next to its WebSupervisor portal.
ComAp hardware and documentation that let its controllers share load with named DSE and DEIF controllers on the same site.
Rolls-Royce's control system that runs engines, batteries, solar and fuel cells as one plant: the closest mirror of Maximus, inside the mtu world.
Caterpillar’s site controllers, up to 32 assets with batteries and solar, working with one genset controls group per site. Leadership reports it in a live Maximus opportunity: a risk, not a confirmed loss.
Deep Sea upgraded its own-brand fleet app. Rehlko is doubling generator output in China. Caterpillar ECS joined the radar at leadership’s request. No new rival launch.
Openings 3 and 4: Working Hypothesis from leadership and field input.
Coincidence or consequence, the effect is the same: the window is now set by the rivals’ next announcement, not by anyone’s calendar. We do not claim they copied EKU; we record that they moved, dated and sourced.
Open the live radar: every rival card, what changed, answers for sales ↗Kanbina Lumina live competitive radar, 24 Sep 2026: vendor releases, release notes, datasheets and filings read 4, 9, 14, 23 and 24 Sep 2026. Ring, slice and risk color are Kanbina Lumina’s threat read; company size from FY2025 results. Caterpillar ECS per leadership, 24 Sep 2026. Vendor documentation is not an independent comparison, and absence of public proof is not proof of incapacity.
The result · AI presence
Engineering was never the issue. The words and the published proof are: a buyer who starts from the problem never meets EKU.
Door 1 is the regular who asks for the restaurant by name. Door 2 is the hungry buyer with no sign to follow.
Why it matters
Forrester, Buyers’ Journey Survey 2024 (report of 20 Nov 2024) and 2025. Two survey years with different wording, shown side by side, never merged.
Door 1 · the buyer types "EKU"
99%
of the visible Google searches and clicks that reach EKU already contain its name.
EKU Google Search ConsoleSearch ConsoleGoogle's own report of the searches where a site appeared and was clicked., 31 days to 23 Sep 2026 (99.2% over the nine months to 13 Aug). A modeled estimate of search visits reads 95% branded (177 of 186, 22 Sep). Two instruments, shown side by side, never averaged.
AI answers describe EKU correctly when the question names EKU.
Kanbina Lumina AI prompt panelAI prompt panelA fixed set of buyer questions asked to AI assistants with the same wording each time, to see which brands the answers name., July 2026.
Door 2 · the buyer describes the problem
0 / 5,176
AI answers mention EKU when the buyer describes the problem without naming a brand.
Same AI prompt panel, July 2026. Each empty dot stands for about 52 answers.
US searches a month on four buyer terms, such as "generator monitoring system", that are still open. EKU is absent from all four.
Kanbina Lumina market intelligence dataset, Google US, 22 Sep 2026. Difficulty 2 to 3 of 100.
The result · AI answers
Three instruments point the same way. AI assistants named EKU in 0 of 5,176 answers when the buyer described the problem (July). EKU's AI visibility score across assistants is 14, against 27 for Deep Sea and 28 for DEIF (August). In Google's AI answers, DEIF rose at both readings, from 29 to 41; Deep Sea doubled and then gave some back; and three of EKU's four appearances are searches for its own name.
AI is the new restaurant guide, and not only Google’s: every assistant we measured recommends the specialists first.
4 → 4 → 4
EKU's appearances in Google's AI answersAI OverviewsThe summary Google now writes above the search results. Buyers read it before any link. across the tracked buyer searches: 15 Jul, 22 Sep and 30 Sep 2026. DEIF went from 29 to 41.
Kanbina Lumina market intelligence dataset, Google US desktop, 15 Jul, 22 Sep and 30 Sep 2026. Appearances in AI answers are not customer counts, visits or market share. This instrument counts Google's AI summaries; the prompt panel counts AI assistants' answers; the AI visibility score (10 to 17 Aug 2026) is a share-of-answer score across assistants. Three instruments, shown apart, never merged.
What we built · July to September 2026
One story, one baseline, one radar and field tools, built in 90 days through twelve deliverables in three phases.
What we built · before and now
Five areas, what existed before July and what exists now. Each status is tracked on its own: built is not the same as accepted, published or revenue-producing.
Three different definitions of EKU in circulation.
One category story, Power Asset Readiness, ratified by the commercial team. The Maximus ecosystem shown as one offer.
A recognized chef’s brigade knows the goal, what it cooks and for whom. The program made that explicit for the team.
Framework approved 31 JulNobody tracked what rivals launched or claimed.
Live radar: 13 rivals in scope, 24 brands reviewed, 16 moves checked at source on 24 Sep. One master battlecard.
Built · runningSearch Console, analytics and business profile not set up correctly.
Fixes live. Day 0 frozen 13 Aug and re-read with the same ruler 22 Sep.
Built · runningEach seller met the same objections alone.
A commercial playbook from four of five sellers’ answers: field questions, objections, battlecards. Field voice shared with Sales 22 Sep.
The playbook works like a franchise guide: the team can grow without losing the secret sauce.
Internal use signalPages built for browsing, not for buyers or AI answers.
A 42-change plan and page blueprints ready to implement, with Power Asset Readiness as the umbrella.
This is the sign on the street and the menu in the window.
In reviewActual artifacts produced in the program. They show work produced, not commercial outcomes. The website proposal is a concept for EKU review, not published.
What we built · the twelve deliverables
What is true, and what do we call it?
What do we say, where, and to whom?
What is it worth, in what order, and who runs it?
Statement of work, deliverable definitions, July 2026. Phase 3 handover delivered on 30 Sep 2026.
What we built · the umbrella brand
One name on the sign, the menu and the guide. When every copy says the same thing, the guest trusts the kitchen.
EKU Power Drives designs controls, switchgear and data platforms that let operators run generators, pumps and power equipment from different manufacturers as one system.
Control runs on site: designed to keep running if the cloud link drops.
How many different generator brands are in your fleet today?
Founded in 2015 · Stuttgart, Germany, and Spring, Texas · Bolivia and Argentina
The brand, top to bottom
Same words on
Kanbina Lumina channel kit, 24 Sep 2026. Families: Product Categories sheet, 21 Sep 2026. Facts: EKU official communications, 10 Jul 2026 (Confirmed). Power Asset Readiness: approved category story; public use after leadership’s go-ahead. Working foundation, not approved external copy.
The big picture · business, market, product, competition
Five views that explain why the next priority is the route to Maximus ecosystem revenue.
Big picture · the market and the business question
Pantries are getting more mixed, and every hardware sale is a first visit. The regular table is won on purpose.
The market clock
A grid connection takes about 5 years; on-site generation takes 1.5 to 2.
25.5 GW of new US industrial demand is expected to be served on site, 2026 to 2030.
Sites take the engines they can get, so fleets become mixed-brand and need one brain.
Enverus forecast, 11 Aug 2026 · Confirmed. Grid: LBNL Queued Up 2026, plants built in 2025. Transformers: Wood Mackenzie, US, Q2 2025. All read at the publisher on 24 Sep 2026.
The business question
Product sales are growing in 2026.
A GeneSys order does not bring a Maximus subscription by default.
Recurring revenue needs its own route and its own line in the numbers.
Leadership input, working session of 24 Sep 2026. Revenue streams kept separate on purpose; Sophia is part of the same ecosystem and is not counted twice.
Big picture · how rivals organize growth
That is how a fast company moves. It also means four of the five functions depend on the time of a few people.
A starred kitchen has a cook at every station. EKU covers every station with a few people wearing many hats.
GE Vernova and Siemens Energy run dedicated market intelligence leads.
Schneider and ComAp run segment managers for data centers and microgrids.
ComAp and Woodward publish hard numbers on their products.
Generac runs dedicated channel marketing managers.
mtu puts named engineers forward as the technical face.
The gap in people
| Company | Company headcount | Change | Named commercial owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| DEIFAnnual report 2024; trade press, 4 May 2026 | 522 → 6492023 → 2025 | +24% | · |
| Solaris10-K filings | 364 → 468FY2024 → FY2025 | +29% | SVP Commercial, Power Solutions |
| ComApForbes CZ 2024; company, 25 Jun 2026 (different sources) | 555 → 600+2024 → Jun 2026 | +8% | Segment managers for data centers and microgrids |
| GeneracAnnual reports; release, 8 Apr 2025 | 8,600 → 9,4002023 → 2025 | +9% | SVP & GM, Global Telecom and Data Centers; data-center sales roles posted Jun to Aug 2026 |
| Rolls-Royce Power SystemsCompany, 27 Feb 2026 | ~700 hires2025 | 1,000+ openings in 2026 | · |
| RehlkoCompany, Mar 2025 | · | VP Sales, Power Solutions Americas, owns every data-center project | |
| VoltaGridCEO statement, 21 Aug 2025 | ~1,000Aug 2025 | VP Data Center and Microgrid Development | |
| OmniMetrix10-K filings | 26 → 27two years | 8 in sales and marketing both years | · |
| EKU | A multi-hat team. Functions 1 to 4 run on shared time today. | ||
Counterpoint. Woodward grew power generation 19% in Q3 FY2026 while planning about 1,000 fewer incremental hires by 2029 through automation. More people is one route; a named owner with a system is the other.
Company-wide headcount from annual reports, 10-K filings and company statements; titles from company sites and job posts observed 22 Sep 2026; Woodward Q3 FY2026 call, 7 Aug 2026. Department-level history is not published, so this is company headcount, not marketing headcount. A title not found is not proof that a role is absent. EKU row: working view, to confirm with leadership.
Role titles verified on company sites and filings, 22 Sep 2026. Growth guidance: Rolls-Royce H1 2026 results; Generac Q2 2026 call. EKU row: working view, to confirm with leadership.
What comes next · three moves
Back to the kitchen
EKU already has the kitchen, the chef and the recipe book. What it lacks is the sign on the street and a place on the map where buyers ask. That is the work ahead.
Evidenceapproved claims and owned account actions.
Evidencequalified assessments and seller feedback.
Evidencestage progression and signed outcomes.
EKU now has a working commercial foundation for Power Generation. The gap is not engineering. It is being found and trusted by buyers who start from a problem.
Without a deliberate software route, hardware growth keeps outpacing Maximus ecosystem revenue, and rivals keep filling AI answers and packager shortlists.
Use this page as the shared reference for the next priority. The annex holds the website fixes that can start first.
Every figure carries its source and date. Leadership inputs await written confirmation, the reference case is under engineering review, and two competitor floors are being corrected.
Annexes · the detail behind each scene
Annexes 1 to 10 are on this page. The full annexes below open in a new tab and keep their own dates. Internal use only · Confidential.
Day 0 against 22 Sep with the same ruler: AI answers, authority, open buyer searches.
Open annex ↗Behind the radarSixteen rival moves checked at source, every rival card and the answers for sales.
Open annex ↗Behind the website42 weighted changes page by page, the first ten in one week.
Open annex ↗Behind the market clockThe market clock, the retrofit window, the parts of the ecosystem and the players.
Open annex ↗Behind what we builtThe 90 days scene by scene, with the before and after of each workstream.
Open annex ↗The long versionThe full walkthrough as one silent film, narrated live. Presented separately from this page.
Open ↗ This pageReplay the story from the first scene, or jump to an act from the top bar.
Go to start ↑Annex 1 · before and after
Left: the starting point measured on Day 0. Right: what exists on Day 84, each line with its status. None of it was in the twelve deliverables; it is the plumbing they need.
The public site is still the before: nothing built in the 90 days is published on ekupd.com yet. That is why the next step is a publication date, not more content.
Google Search Console, same 31-day windows (the Day 0 window reads 314 in the 23 Sep export; Day 90 window 22 Aug to 21 Sep: 350). Crawler checks 3, 4 and 9 Sep 2026. Live radar 24 Sep 2026. Website crawl 23 Sep 2026. Revenue map inputs are leadership’s verbal inputs, pending written confirmation.
Annex 2 · the universe
Four orbits, not one flat list of rivals. The number in each circle, and its size, is the company’s authority score: an SEO and backlink measure from 0 to 100.
They already own the words EKU’s buyers type.
They set the language ceiling EKU’s claims must stay credible under.
They decide who gets cited: the shortest route to AI answers.
They prove the demand; EKU serves it for everyone who cannot buy their scale.
EKU is findable by name, not yet by the problems it solves.Same instrument on 30 Sep: EKU 20, specialists 30 to 39. One point is noise; the gap did not move.
Kanbina Lumina market intelligence dataset, normalized pulls 10 to 17 Aug 2026 (Day 0 map; Caterpillar benchmark 17 Aug, ecosystem scale, never compared like-for-like with specialists). Authority score is an SEO and backlink metric on a 0 to 100 scale; it does not measure company size, revenue or product quality. Sets and roles from the Kanbina Lumina competitor register, Working Hypothesis until technical validation.
Annex 3 · the white space
It was the map in the original proposal; here it is drawn with measured data. In September rivals moved toward the corner with words. The published proof is still missing.
Visible, but anchored in the component: the controller, not the site.
Visible, but tied to their own brand or owning the fleet they run.
Already system-level and mixed-brand. What is missing is visibility: pages, published cases and citations.
Positions: horizontal from product architecture (Kanbina Lumina competitor register); vertical from authority score and AI answers; bubble size = organic keyword count, 31 Jul to 14 Aug 2026. Caterpillar and Schneider shown at ecosystem scale, not to scale. September arrows show direction from the live radar (24 Sep 2026), not measured positions. Placement is a Working Hypothesis pending technical validation.
Annex 4 · evidence ready to publish
The rival documents read do not report measured behavior of a whole mixed-brand site with the cloud link down. Two rivals already publish cases with figures.
A mixed-brand generator fleet run as one plant, telemetry April to August 2026. Seven pieces: long case, one-pager, 40-answer FAQ, business case, press release, video script, web pack.
Permission and corrected figures pendingAn anonymized 42-unit fleet, eighteen months of telemetry. A case shaped for AI answers, one-pager, website code blocks, launch posts and a claims register with eight gates.
Figures provisional until confirmedThe Maximus ecosystem site and the mining landing, on private addresses since 21 Sep. The version with the reference case waits for the permission.
Private, not publishedAnswer-shaped pages with structured data; forty questions written the way buyers ask.
One measured story per case, a release ready for the wire, launch posts.
Every page ends in the fleet question and a fleet assessment request.
The FAQ answers fallback, spares, response times and what changes, before the meeting.
A business case per site with measured inputs and a modeled payback, labeled, never a promise.
Case figures stay off screen until confirmed in writing, and nothing is published without EKU’s written approval. Battlecard cohort and live radar, September 2026; PR target map, 24 Sep 2026. Also built: the Africa mining positioning (sentence pending ratification) and the mining page rebuild.
Annex 5 · the website as one system
Measurement makes the pages count, the pages make the proof findable, and the proof gives the press something to cite.
Think of the 90 days as building the instrument panel of a plant. The panel exists and is calibrated; what matters now is who watches it every day.
Google Search Console, same 31-day windows; crawler checks 3, 4 and 9 Sep 2026; on-page pack v2, 20 Sep 2026; website change plan, 23 Sep 2026; site audit, 18 Sep 2026 (AI-readiness is a heuristic score, not a measure of citations); PR target map, 24 Sep 2026.
Annex 6 · the road ahead
Top lane: EKU as a company. Bottom lane: Power Generation, in the order the revenue map set.
Operating Plan Q4 2026 and 2027, 3 Sep 2026; revenue map final draft 16 Sep 2026 (leadership inputs verbal, written confirmation pending); priority stack ranked P0 to Hold. Baselines are Day 0 readings; targets are commitments of effort, never revenue forecasts.
Annex 7 · and now?
The market signal is large, the executable opportunity is smaller and must be qualified, and someone has to run it.
HTML and PDF, in English. They mirror the twelve deliverables plus the executive folder; the handover was delivered on 30 Sep.
All three views lead to one gap: the system needs named owners to keep it running.See the five commercial functions ↑
Executive handover structure, delivered 30 Sep 2026. Authority score: Kanbina Lumina market intelligence dataset, 30 Sep 2026 (SEO and backlink metric). AI answers: Google US desktop, 15 Jul, 22 Sep and 30 Sep 2026. Open buyer searches: US, same demand as the August measurement.
Annex 8 · the presentation video
The same story as this page, narrated as one video. It is for internal use inside EKU and is not approved external copy.
Annex 9 · the visual guide
Who EKU is, the five product families, four industries, the Maximus ecosystem and the questions buyers ask. Every page is marked internal use only and confidential.
Interactive: tap the layers of the ecosystem, jump between scenes, print to PDF.
Open the guide ↗The same guide as a file to read offline or print for a meeting.
Open the PDF ↗Every frame of the brochure video as a slide, for screens and presentations.
Open the PDF ↗Visual guide and video brochure prepared by Kanbina Lumina for EKU Power Drives, 25 Sep 2026. Sources are cited on each page. Internal use only · Confidential: do not forward outside EKU.
Annex 10 · the Power Generation pages
The Power Generation page has not appeared in Google since November. The old Maximus address, which held 95% of Maximus visibility, ends in an error page.
One door has no sign. The other opens onto a wall.
2.7%
of EKU's Google impressions reach the Power Generation, Maximus, GeneSys and controls pages. Leadership places most of the pipeline and product sales in Power Generation.
EKU Google Search Console, 12 Nov 2025 to 21 Sep 2026. Pipeline weight: leadership input, 16 and 24 Sep 2026, pending written confirmation.