Tell TechWeekEurope All About Your UPS

UPS uninterruptible power supply battery energy © nikkytok Shutterstock

Let’s not overlook the humble UPS. Tell us about yours…..

The humble UPS (uninterruptible power supply) could be the most important piece of kit in your data centre if there is a disaster. Our survey aims to shed some light on how TechWeekEurope readers see their UPS.

Technology to keep data centres going in times of disaster, have been around for a very long time. When people first started to rely on computers, they quickly realised they couldn’t always trust their electricity supplies, so they worked out ways to save their data in the event of a sudden power outage.

Dell UPS power supply

UPS a daisy

You can only store so much energy, however, so UPSs are designed to deliver power for a few minutes, while the data is safely stored and (hopefully) the IT equipment can be switched to a different power source. Large data centres will have back-up power such as diesel generators or fuel cells.

Mostly, UPS systems are dull boxes of batteries, but some use more exciting technology, such as a rotating flywheel (below)which stores kinetic energy, ready to deliver it as power when required.

There are questions though: how much energy does your UPS waste, and how do you integrated with increasingly virtual IT kit? Can it grow with your data centre, and can you fix it if it goes wrong?

We want to know how you choose your UPS systems, and what’s involved in caring for them. Please take this survey, so we can keep our finger on the pulse of the data centre.

Active Power Flywheel UPS

What UPS infrastructure types do you have?

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Peer 1 New York data centre diesel buckets and barrels
Back-up diesels need fuel (Image from New York during the Sandy superstorm)

Who is your preferred UPS manufacturer?

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Uninteruptible power supply
An uninterruptible power supply at a data centre in Iceland – click for more

The following factors are important in identifying the right UPS. Which would you put first?

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Infinity AgriGen biodome methane pipe
The UPS can hand over to power from many sources including methane – click for more

What is your biggest challenge with managing UPS today?

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In your organisation, is the IT manager responsible for the IT electricity bills?

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