African Bank has installed a Meissner Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) unit at its head office in Johannesburg to protect against power spikes, surges, brown outs and complete black outs.
African Bank opted for a 160 KVA Silcon UPS to support its 612 workstations. "We already had two UPSs installed," explains Gerhard Joubert, building controller at African Bank, "but we felt the need for more comprehensive power protection due to the critical nature of these workstations."
The dynamic database the bank employs makes it prone to data corruption should a power failure occur without a back-up power facility. Joubert says the fact that clean power is supplied at all times was another factor taken into consideration when purchasing the UPS.
All power to the PC passes through the inverter whether there is a power failure or not, regulating the flow to a constant120 volts, without the dips or spikes that are likely to occur when an offline UPS makes the switch from utility power to battery power. As with the offline UPS, the online system diverts a steady stream of electricity to charge its battery.
In case of a complete power failure the UPS provides users with a 15-minute window during which they will be able to shut down their systems. Paul Ashworth, product manager at Meissner says this time span is sufficient to shut down applications and secure data from corruption.
Within the banking industry, IT managers are securing computerised systems at all cost and UPSes, according to Joubert, are considered critical equipment. "Despite the amount of money we spent to enable applications and secure the network against viruses, our primary need is for clean, sustained power."
Ashworth agrees: "The service industry is especially vulnerable, with their revenue dependent on the service they provide. The key lies with a system that has no time lapse in the case of a power failure but allows operations to continue as normal."
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