Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

While football season is still many weeks away, few of us have forgotten the extended delay caused by the power outage at this year’s Super Bowl. While patiently awaiting the Raven’s victory (my apologies to my son who was behind the 49ers all the way), the pause in game activity created frustration, as well as an opportunity to refill my appetizers.

Fast forward to baseball season and the power outages continue to threaten. Even those environments that have made the investment in power protection technologies to prevent outages can still be affected. A recent Braves’ game against the Minnesota Twins was delayed not just by rain, but also be a subsequent power outage that extended the delay by roughly 20 minutes.

For the excited sports fan, there is little that is as frustrating as a delay in the action. Whether it’s football, baseball, hockey or even soccer, any interruption leaves us anxious for the action to resume. If the power outage affects the large bank of lights teams rely on to provide enough power to play and have the action televised nationally, tight schedules suddenly go out the window and teams and fans alike are at the mercy of the power provider or the on-site tech support to get things rolling again.

A company like power protection provider, Minuteman Power Technologies, is accustomed to power outages. After all, it’s their business. A recent TMCnet story highlighted an unusual week for this provider that saw multiple power outages in their hometown the first week of May. While a power outage here and there is not unusual, three separate incidents in one week is unexpected and something that garners attention. In each incident, however, Minuteman ensures the normal function of the workflow to protect client businesses and their processes.

The Minuteman network cabinet contains a virtual power station and multiple XL and EXL battery packs. If a power outage occurs, this cabinet provides more than eight hours of runtime to ensure employees can still access files, save their changes and even work from home if they are unable to travel to the office due to a local disaster or some other obstacle. The company’s phone system is also backed with battery power and is located in a separate area of the building.

Desktop workstations throughout the company are protected by one of a variety of UPS products depending upon the needs of the system. Each of these UPS units is checking regularly for battery health to ensure it can provide the backup protection promised. All of these elements are equipped with the Minuteman SNMP accessory card to ensure IT can monitor and control the UPS from any computer on the network.

Had the previously mentioned sports arenas been equipped to the level of power protection provided by Minuteman within its own walls, it’s likely sports fans would never know a power outage had even occurred. It may be time for property managers to take a look at their options to ensure the game can still go on.