As a business owner or a business manager in a company or school you probably realise that all your IT equipment needs protecting against power surges and power cuts. Downtime caused by power outages is more than just a frustrating inconvenience it can cause real financial damage to your organisation. Every year, billions of pounds are lost due to downtime caused by power disruptions that could have been prevented by a UPS.
Small to medium-sized businesses may be at most financial risk due to a limited ability to generate revenue during downtime. However, choosing the right UPS devices can seem confusing.
Smaller UPS units can protect individual computers while larger models can provide power to several devices or all the equipment in an office. Small businesses can opt for a single UPS appliance, which should be enough to back up computers and other devices that are needed for business continuity.
Choosing the right device
When selecting a UPS, you need to know the size you need. Electronics have both maximum watt ratings and maximum VA (volt-ampere) ratings. Neither rating may be exceeded by the attached equipment (load). Watts measure real power drawn by the equipment, while volt-amps are the product of the voltage applied to the equipment times the current drawn by the equipment.
Another consideration is the runtime you need to support your attached equipment. This refers to the amount of time a UPS will be able to power its attached equipment in the event of a power disruption. The more equipment you have plugged-in to your UPS, the less runtime you will have, so it’s important to make sure your UPS is only providing backup power to your most critical equipment.
Features to look out for:
- User-Replaceable Batteries – Increases availability by allowing trained users to perform battery upgrades and replacements.
- Surge-Only Outlets – Protect secondary electronics from surges and spikes without reducing battery power used to run primary electronics during outages.
- Building Wiring Fault Indicator – LED indicator that informs users of potentially dangerous wiring problems in wall circuits.
- Automatic Self-Test – Periodic battery check that ensures early detection of batteries needing replacement.
Ecl-ips: Supplying APC Smart-UPS devices
At Ecl-ips we pride ourselves at working and partnering with the leaders in specific technological sectors which means if you choose us to supply you with a UPS we have already selected reliable appliances for your business. We supply APC Smart-UPS devices of all sizes from the entry-level option for small businesses to larger models suitable to power multiple devices.
APC’s standard models are the most popular UPS in the world for business servers, storage and network devices and have long been considered the benchmark for reliability and manageability. Recent innovations by APC include the integration of Li-ion battery technology and cloud-based remote monitoring, providing significant cost savings and improved lifecycle management options for customers.
To help you choose the right UPS for your business please use APC’s handy selector tool: https://www.apc.com/shop/uk/en/tools/ups_selector. You can buy UPS appliances from us online or contact us for expert advice.