Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

The tools of business are now all digital. From computers to voice-over-IP phone systems to accounting ledgers, everything has moved to a digital platform and with good reason: Digital is more efficient.

Yet, that efficiency can come to a crashing halt when the power goes out. We’ve become dependent. Our business relies on power to such a high degree that not much can function without it.

That’s why IT managers at small to mid-sized companies clearly want more backup power.

A Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) survey of IT managers at SMBs found that 72 percent wanted more than 30 minutes of backup power, and 30 percent wanted more than two hours of backup.

This number was even higher when it came to telephone systems, where 80 percent wanted at least 30 minutes of backup power for their phone system, and 37 percent wanted more than four hours.

“Having a longer time to react when power outages occur has moved from a luxury to a requirement as IT managers handle an increasing number of mission-critical systems and applications,” noted the Frost and Sullivan report.

IT managers understand the vulnerability that businesses face in terms of power loss. With the average power outage running about 20 minutes, and the average extended power outage being nearly eight hours, most uninterruptible power supplies just don’t cut it.

That’s where extended run-time solutions such as those offered by Minuteman Power Technologies come into play. Businesses can extend their power back-up runtimes by adding external battery packs to their Minuteman UPSs in a daisy-chain configuration, adding as much backup power as they need to ensure continuous operation of critical business systems even in prolonged outage situations.

The company’s EXL Battery Pack for its Endeavor and EnterprisePlus UPS lines, offers high VAh configuration ratings and extreme runtime for riding out outages with no hit on company performance. An unlimited number of the battery packs can be daisy-chained together, allowing the business to match backup power to spec, and the batteries come as 3U rack height so they can be rack mounted or configured as a tower. They come with a 3-year warranty, too.

“When the power fails, businesses are in a vulnerable position that can have a widespread effect across every operational function,” noted Bill Allen with Minuteman. “The more reliant businesses become on these systems, the more important it is to keep them up and running during extended power outages.”

Smart companies know this, which is why some businesses fail and others keep humming along when the power goes out. Like building an office without a roof, skimping on power protection just doesn’t make sense.