As a guardian of power, UPS provides a stable and uninterrupted power supply to critical load devices across various industries, protecting them from electrical hazards such as overloads, short circuits, and surges, thus ensuring normal business operations. With the rapid development of cloud applications and cloud hosting, the protection of connectivity and data storage devices has become even more crucial.
How to choose a UPS suitable for a professional network and differentiate from the wide variety of UPS products? There are four key factors to consider when choosing a UPS, which can help businesses select a product that suits their business needs.
1. UPS Scale
Recent research indicates that the number of mobile devices will soon surpass the global population. This era of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and mobile devices presents significant challenges for IT managers in maintaining stable enterprise networks and connectivity. Beyond ensuring server uptime, protecting storage and network equipment, broadband connections, access points, modems, and routers from potential damage caused by power transients and maintaining business continuity is equally crucial. When determining UPS size, the rate of IT infrastructure growth must be considered, and the required redundancy for short-term expansion must be identified.
2. UPS backup time
Most power outages last from 5 minutes to 1 hour. To cope with prolonged outages, data centers need to be equipped with multiple AC power inputs or backup generator sets. Since ATS or backup generators can switch over or start up within 1 minute, UPS systems typically only need to be configured with 5-15 minutes of energy storage batteries. At the same time, UPS systems must be compatible with both lead-acid and lithium batteries to meet the needs of future energy storage development.
3. UPS scalability
If businesses cannot predict the future trajectory of their IT infrastructure, using scalable standard UPS systems is one approach; however, if future needs are uncertain or only experiencing rapid growth, modular UPS systems can provide an effective solution. UPS systems are scalable, supporting future load and operational expansion by adding power module cabinets rather than replacing the entire system. Pay-as-you-go pricing helps match UPS systems with IT power supplies, improving system efficiency and minimizing operating costs.
4. UPS Management
DCIM data center management software provides IT administrators with convenient remote monitoring and control; at the same time, proactive battery and environmental diagnostics can greatly reduce downtime; advanced UPS management helps optimize system operation, safely shut down the system, and protect data and equipment from power outages.