Why the networking equipment that connects you to the cloud has to be protected
As companies continue to adopt more cloud and virtualization technologies, they would do well to pay special attention to the devices that are now essentially the lifeline to their IT resources: networking and other equipment at the network edge.
Whether we’re talking about a single small office or a branch office of a large company, the IT equipment configurations are often very similar. That equipment is supported by either dedicated networking gear or gear that is shared with several other tenants (such as in co-location environments, for example).
As virtualization and cloud technologies continue to take hold, in more and more cases these sites have little to no actual computing hardware on site. Rather, they are dependent on far away servers for compute power — whether at company headquarters or at a third-party application provider site.
Loss of power means loss of business Think about what the effect would be on those sites should their network connection be lost. What productivity are you losing when your access to the cloud is cut off, and what is the cost? You still have to pay employees when they’re not connected, but can they perform any meaningful work? Will your phones go down, so you can’t take calls? What is the potential cost of that in terms of lost revenue or productivity?
Some employers who operate very small businesses can send their employees to the nearest coffee shop to hook into a connection in case of a network failure. But this is not a viable backup strategy for an office with 10 or more employees.
Consider a retail environment, where many devices on the premises are processing point of sale (POS) transactions. If your POS devices
go down and you can’t process sales, how much will that cost you per hour?
To be safe, validate your setup Clearly, all this equipment needs to be protected against outages, whether it’s POS devices and desktops, or the routers and switches that provide network connectivity. So the next question is, how will you provide backup power in the event of an outage and how much run time do you need?
Perhaps there’s a generator on site, so all you need is a UPS that can provide enough run time to power things until the generator is fired up. But does the generator have enough power to run all of your critical equipment, or is it just for emergency lighting?
With respect to the UPSs, can you manage them remotely? This becomes important for a couple of reasons. Remote management capabilities give the central IT staff the ability to identify when the UPSs need maintenance, such as a new battery. Additionally, with managed UPSs, the central IT group can selectively shut down non-critical devices, thus enabling the UPS to provide power to the most important equipment for a longer period of time.
Business continuity and peace of mind All APC™
by Schneider Electric™ Smart-UPS
and Symmetra UPS models of 5 kVA and above ship with an integrated Network Management Card for remote management, and it’s optional on models below 5 kVA. All the remote operator needs is a web browser, and the systems also integrate with any network management system that supports SNMP, the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).
In the cloud and virtual world, protecting the edge is critical but with the right backup power plan, you can dramatically reduce your risk — and keep employees productive.
For more information on UPS and remote management solutions, visit
www.apc.com www.apc.com/promo | CALL 888-289-2722 x6000 | APC Currents | 7
What productivity are you losing when you lose connectivity to the cloud, and what is the cost?
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