Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

Telecommunications provider iiNet experienced multiple faults, resulting in a wide-spread email outage. The Australian company was then inundated with phone calls, which made the entire system, including its call center, inoperable.

The email problem was blamed on a software bug.

"All email was 100 per cent operational at approximately 4:30pm " a statement from the provider read. "iiNet's voice engineering team were able to restore the system to 100 percent functionality by 5:45pm.”

iiNet apologized for the outage, however has not indicated whether it would be offering compensation to its customers for the downed system.

"We apologize to our customers for the email delays experienced and their inability to call our support center for assistance. We have additional resources on board to catch up and provide additional support to customers following yesterday's incidents."

Just as electricity companies have periodic outages, and just as the water system has periodic issues, there will always be some level of disruption in any infrastructure.

The problem is that Internet connectivity has become as critical as power and water in terms of infrastructure dependency. Loss of connectivity can cause significant loss of productivity in a business, and the reality is that outages do happen more than often with the other major services. So, it’s important that businesses have a contingency in mind. Internet and power outages are inevitable, but the game is all about preparedness.

The first step is ensuring that the organization’s data will not be compromised in the event of connectivity loss. Solid backups are always a foundation to any strategy, so ensuring data is protected is key. It is also possible to cost-effectively create redundant systems to ensure no loss of productivity.

These scenarios remind us that prevention is key; in addition to having a connectivity back up plan, companies should be mindful of power protection as well.

One solution? Investing in an uninterruptible power supply, or UPS.

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 power protection solutions and offers an array of products, from outlet surge protectors to UPSs, all of which are designed to keep businesses going power-wise, so that they can tend to their Internet backups as well.

In addition to keeping things running smoothly, using power protection equipment can also save institutions thousands in costly damages due to outages in the event of an interruption or total outage.

Do you have a backup plan in place if your Internet or power drops out?