They do the lighting thing, of course. But also X-rays and refrigerators, nuclear fuels and plastics, mortgage financing and television programming. As we've all been serenaded to more than once, "GE brings good things to life" - lots of different things, to just about everyone's life. And in doing so, General Electric brings in $100 billion a year. It is the ninth largest and second most profitable company in the world.

To look at it another way, the company is roughly four times larger than the entire equipment rental industry, so when GE sets its sights on the power rental market, "good things" become relative, depending on how many 20-kilowatt generators you may happen to have in your fleet.

This year's emergence of GE Energy Rentals has created an industry buzz, even though it will operate in a realm most rental companies could never approach. After all, GE plans to rent huge blocks of power, not backhoes or pressure washers. And most general rental centers don't play phone tag with the oil rigs, utilities and global entities that make up a major part of GE's target audience. Even the biggest rental companies who do chase million-dollar, long-term contracts don't ring up big rental revenue in the temporary power and climate-control segment.

The mere fact of GE Energy Rentals can enlarge the concept of what rental can be.

"They're going to expand and grow the marketplace in a way that only GE can do it."