Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

Some of us have fond memories of thunderstorms when we were children, watching the lightning strike close and counting the seconds until we heard the thunder, trying to figure out how far the lightning was from us.

Most people are content with seeing lightning from their houses or cars, and anything closer makes them uncomfortable. There are some exceptions to this, like crazy photographers who go to great lengths to meet lightning up close and personal, but for every image of lightning that is captured intentionally, there are many more that are captured accidentally, just like a recent boating incident on Lake Athens in Texas.

A Texas angler by the name of Tucker K. Owings was fishing, and just as he and his companion were feeling static on their rods, a bolt of lightning struck immediately in front of their boat into the lake water. The moment was captured on a GoPro (News - Alert) camera and proves that sometimes, nature can be too close for comfort. The video can be viewed on Owings’ Facebook page.

Lightning does not discriminate. Did you know that electrical systems in an airplane are designed to be resistant to lightning strikes? That’s because lightning is pretty damaging, and being that high in the air without power would be, well, rather terrible.

This brings up an interesting topic about lightning and weather, and how it affects those of us who rely on power for our data centers or, on a smaller scale, working remotely from home. Are you aware of the damage that electricity can do to your homes or vehicles if they were ever accidentally struck?

While we can’t make our homes and businesses 100 percent foolproof, we can take precautionary measures to ensure power supply. That’s why there are uninterruptable power supplies, or UPS. A UPS is an electrical piece of machinery that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source fails.

Right now, we’re gearing up for hurricane season, which is as good of a time as any to talk about power supply and how to maintain it during natural disasters. According to the National Hurricane Center, hurricane starts June 1st and goes all the way until November 30th. Hurricane season is not quite at the end of its long and potentially destructive rope.

What does this mean in technology? It means businesses shouldn’t rest on their laurels when it comes to power protection. In addition to regular system backups, companies should seek UPS devices to provide emergency power when power fails. The most obvious advantage of an uninterruptible power supply is, of course, the maintenance of power.

Aside from maintaining power when necessary, UPS prevents data loss and offers surge protection. The UPS automatically switches to AC generated battery power, preventing the spike or surge from harming whatever is connected to it. A UPS also prevents power fluctuations.

Minuteman UPS/Para Systems (News - Alert) is a provider of unique and robust power protection solutions and offers an array of products, from outlet surge protectors to UPSs.

Using power protection equipment can save institutions thousands in costly damages due to outages as well as keep things running smoothly and efficiently in the event of an interruption or total outage.

Don’t weather the storm without first investing in a solid backup plan. While Owings was lucky enough to avoid a lightning strike on water, your systems and electronics may not be.