• • • COVER STORY • • •
Power fluctuations resulting from an unstable power grid are capable of causing disruption and even damage to home office computing devices and electrical home entertainment equipment. And a full power outage could affect critical smart home functionality linked to lighting, heating, and security, for example, as well as severely hamper essential IT applications that residents and home office workers rely on in their daily operations. However, homes can mitigate the threat of power fluctuations and power outages, and therefore avoid disruption by installing an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). For businesses that rely on critical IT equipment, the potential repercussions of power surges and outages can be devastating. An unstable power grid can adversely impact companies in terms of productivity, damage to IT equipment, loss of data, and even employee well-being. And of course, all of this can equate to potentially huge financial losses. Take data centre downtime for example – the average cost of a data centre outage is estimated at around €740,000, which works out to around €8,850 per minute in lost revenue and unproductive employees.
Here are a few scenarios where unstable or loss of power could negatively impact businesses:
• Internal business processes: like inventory tracking, quote tools, and invoicing coming to a halt
• Reduced employee productivity: due to limited access to online systems
• Communication issues: resulting from email servers going offline and Voice over IP phones shutting down
• Manufacturing line shutdown: the cost of machine resetting and disposal of waste material
• Contractual supply penalties: industrial/component suppliers for example
• Professional IT recovery costs: the expense associated with backing up core IT systems
• Lost sales revenue: customers are unable to contact customer service, and customer support unable to access customer account details
• Customer dissatisfaction and impact on corporate reputation: banking/call centres for example
However, businesses can avoid these daunting scenarios by installing UPS devices – to help them ensure power quality and availability in the event of power fluctuations or outages, and thus eliminate the risk of operational downtime.
How can IT partners help customers to mitigate poor
power quality and availability? As we can see, your customers’ critical IT equipment depends on clean and stable power. Without it, homes and businesses simply can’t function. And as the colder winter months put more pressure on already stretched European energy supplies, there is a real possibility that
power grids across our region will struggle to deliver stable power around the clock. The good news is that IT partners can help to protect the critical IT infrastructure of their customer’s homes and businesses from power fluctuations and power outages – by installing a UPS.
What exactly is a UPS? A UPS is an electrical device that provides backup power stored in batteries to a critical load when the primary power source fails, providing near-instantaneous protection from harmful power interruptions.
An offline UPS is the most common type of UPS, designed for non-critical applications. It draws current from the AC outlet and switches to the battery within a few milliseconds after detecting a power failure.
An online UPS on the other hand is designed for critical IT applications and continuously provides clean power directly from the battery, rather than from the AC outlet. Some UPS offer built-in surge protection that filters out electrical surges and spikes.
UPS helps to protect IT appliances and other electrical equipment, not just in homes and small businesses, but also in larger-scale environments such as laboratories, telecommunications sites, data centres, and factories – where an unexpected power disruption to the critical IT infrastructure could result in business downtime as well as cause damage to critical IT infrastructure.
Schneider Electric – keeping IT
powered on, around the clock As a leading UPS manufacturer that works closely with established IT vendors like IBM, Dell, and Cisco, Schneider Electric helps IT professionals to differentiate and grow their business through access to a broad portfolio of UPS solutions that are designed to protect critical IT appliances and data in homes and businesses. So, even if you experience power fluctuations and blackouts over these coming months, rest assured we can help to keep your IT equipment up and running through this challenging period. What’s more, most of our UPS products are Green Premium certified and deliver compliance, transparency and higher environmental performance.
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • MARCH 2023 13
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
