Security Group: Protection against power outages

As a business owner or manager you probably realise that your IT equipment needs protecting against power outages. Downtime caused by power disruptions, is more than just a frustrating inconvenience, it can cause real financial damage. Power outages cause billions of pounds of losses annually due to IT downtime. Installing a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) appliance prevents this expensive business interruption.

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 in an office. Small businesses can opt for a single UPS appliance, which can back up all the devices needed for business continuity.

Power interruption: 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. Meanwhile 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 is the amount of time a UPS runs its attached equipment if power is lost. The more equipment you have plugged into your UPS, the less runtime you will have. Therefore it’s important to make sure your UPS is only providing backup power to your most critical equipment.

Features to look out for to protect against power outages:

  • 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.

Security Group: APC Smart-UPS devices to stop power outages

At Security Group we like to work with the leaders in specific technology sectors. This means if you choose us to supply your UPS we will have already selected reliable appliances for your business. We supply APC Smart-UPS devices of all sizes. We offer entry-level options for small businesses up 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. Their UPS appliances are also reliable and easy to operate.

Security Group: Helping you reach a decision

As a CCTV installer we understand how adding new assets, like IP cameras, can affect your power usage. We are experts on power managements and will advise you if you need additional UPS devices.

Our parent company, Ecl-ips, has long experience of supplying UPS devices as part of security system installations and you can find more information on its website. If you want to talk to specialists in power management and avoid costly business downtime contact us.