Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is essentially a back-up battery power supply. When there is a change in the flow of electricity, UPS will kick in and give you time to close down your systems, or continue to operate for a short period of time.
UPS can prevent data loss at the time of the surge/outage.
Installing a suitable, UPS is a cost-effective and proactive decision to take towards the productivity & safeguarding of your business.
There are three different types of UPS; Standby, Line-Interactive, and Double-Conversion. They are categories based on how power moves through the unit.
Standby UPS (Offline UPS or battery backup) resorts to battery backup power in the event of common power problems.
The wider the range of power the unit has, the less drain on the battery & the more backup time available.
Most Standby UPS systems offers basic surge protection.
Ideal for: Entry-level computers, VoIP equipment, POS systems, Security systems & other basic electronic equipment.
This UPS provides power condition & battery backup.
It can regulate voltage, automatically rather than automatically switching to battery back-up.
They provide power during such events as a blackout, voltage sag, voltage surge, or over-voltage.
Ideal for: PCs, network equipment, and entry-to-mid-range servers.
Provides consistent, near perfect power regardless of the condition of incoming power.
Ideal for: critical IT equipment, data centre installations, high-end servers, large telecom installations and advanced network equipment
When picking your UPS, there are a number of things to think about...
It needs to large enough to support your IT equipment.
Look at the “Capacity” as an indicator. The higher the capacity, the more equipment is can support.
Calculate the capacity Load (the combined amount of power you need for all of your equipment) by making a list of the equipment and total up the amount of watts needed.
How much time do you need after a power surge / outage?
Do you need to remain operational consistently because you have critical machines like in hospitals?
When looking at the length of time the batteries in the UPS can provide in power outages, keep in mind the larger the wattage load, the shorter the runtime will be.
Do you need several UPSs?
Where will they be kept? Inside / Outside?
Typically, we suggest that you have the minimum number of UPSs at one location.
You can pick more than one type of UPS.
When making a list of your systems to work out the size of UPS needed, start categorising them as whether they are business critical and how long you need them operational for.
That will give you an idea if you can have a selection of UPS options in place