When selecting an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), customers are often at a loss, trying to evaluate the efficiency of the unit. However, Graham Beyleveld, sales director at local Powerware distributor, Meissner, says the company`s 359 strategy simplifies the choice, enabling buyers to obtain the most appropriate UPS for a particular environment.
"The nine most common power problems to consider when selecting a UPS are power failure, power sags, power surges, brownouts, line noise, high voltage spikes, frequency variation, switching transients and harmonic distortion. But, not every UPS protects against these potentially harmful scenarios," he explains.
Powerware offers three levels of power protection with its Series 3, Series 5 and Series 9. "Each series is designed to fit a different set of power protection needs and allows users to match their needs precisely with the appropriate level of power protection," says Beyleveld.
Powerware Series 3 UPSs primarily protect against three of the nine power problems including power failure, power sags and power surges. This basic protection is necessary in order to prevent damage such as data loss, file corruption, flickering lights, hardware damage and equipment shutoff. For example, if a computer is not protected against power failures the user could lose all of his work-in-progress when his utility fails. With a Series 3 UPS a user has time to save the work before the computer shuts down, even if the power suddenly fails. Series 3 UPSs offer a degree of protection against other power problems, however, it is most commonly used to protect single workstations.
Powerware Series 5 UPSs are most effective against power failure, power sags, power surges, brownouts and line noise, while offering a degree of protection against other power problems. "Some of the damages you risk by not protecting yourself with a Series 5 UPS include premature hardware failure, data loss and corruption, data error, keyboard lockup, storage loss and system lockup," notes Beyleveld. He adds that Series 5 UPSs are recommended for small network systems right through to enterprise networking environments.
Powerware Series 9 UPSs protect against all nine power problems, as well as protecting against overheating and premature failure of electrical components, component stress, burned circuit boards, data crash and program failures. These UPSs offer the highest level of power protection available and are always recommended for mission-critical applications like server farms and hospitals.
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