Organisations can benefit from UPS redundancy

Rack format modular UPSs take up only 25 percent of the floor space, and the vertical scalability of rack-mounted modules means that additional capacity for redundancy or load upgrades.

The rapid growth of IT and Internet applications means that loads falling into the mission critical category have quickly multiplied.

This is outstripping the level of protection existing UPS systems were originally designed for and consequently failing to provide any form of redundancy.

Subsequently, the majority of organisations who need total protection for their mission critical loads are migrating to parallel redundant UPS systems.

These provide a minimum of one module over and above that required for capacity, ensuring the load continues to be supported with UPS power if any one module shuts down.

"While major investments have been made in expanding and upgrading IT systems, many are still reliant on single stand-alone UPSs.

These are typically incorrectly sized for today's increased loads," said Peter Bentley, sales director at UPSL.

"For many businesses, the question of installing a parallel redundant UPS system is an important issue.

Traditionally this is a decision based on the financial consequences of a sudden loss of power against the additional cost and space implications of a legacy 'free-standing' parallel redundant UPS solution.

"Without redundancy, a UPS unit presents a potential single point of failure and leaves business critical systems exposed.

When adding a level of redundancy the client is making the decision that an investment in a redundant UPS system justifiably outweighs the risk of a possible disruption to their business," continued Bentley.

Past concerns about the additional cost and space required for redundancy are no longer relevant.

Compared with traditional legacy systems, today's rack format modular UPSs take up only 25 percent of the floor space, and the vertical scalability of rack-mounted modules means that additional capacity for redundancy or load upgrades can be achieved without any footprint penalty.

Further, doubling capacity does not mean doubling expenditure - an N+1 configuration (compared with traditional 1+1) means that extra modules can be installed in an existing cabinet at a fraction of the cost of an additional stand-alone unit.

"A ten year-old system is a box of aging electronics and despite regular maintenance could represent a potential risk of failure.

Inefficient power protection systems could be replaced with space saving, energy saving modern transformerless, modular UPS systems such as the PowerWAVE9000DPA.

These efficiently protect critical loads, including blade servers, and can be right-sized by inserting or removing 'hot-swappable' modules, enabling power to be added as requirements grow.

All factors to be considered, especially in light of rising energy prices and increasing business interruptions and losses because of the UK's deteriorating mains electricity," concluded Bentley.

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