The Need for Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS)

Tecnopolis firmly believes that most, if not all, of your computers should be protected by a quality APC brand UPS battery backup unit. If not a UPS, then at the very least you should employ a quality APC brand surge suppressor.

Electricity is something we all take for granted. It's something we don't think about until it's not there. That's when you realize just how important it is to our daily lives. Everything shuts down: lights go out, heaters and furnaces turn off, and TV's and appliances won't work. Computers are no exception, but they are more sensitive to power fluctuations and house important information. Thus, they need special protection that only a UPS can provide.

When a power failure occurs, any computers without a UPS will power off instantly. Computers are designed with a specific shutdown procedure and an abrupt power loss can have undesirable consequences. For example, to enable modern computers to perform at their current speeds, they store information in a temporary location (cache), which will then be put into long-term storage (a hard drive) at a latter time. Because of this, information that has not yet been stored on a hard drive could easily be lost if your computer were to shut down abruptly. With a UPS you can ensure this type of data loss does not occur because a normal application and computer shutdown can take place while the computer is run off battery power.

Abrupt loss of power also has a chance of causing system file and/or file system corruption, especially if such files or structures are being written to disk at the same moment the power is lost. System corruption can render your computer non-bootable and may require an operating system reinstall which can take days and cost several hundred dollars.

Fluctuations in power also affect today's computers. The technology that allows our computers to be fast also makes them sensitive to large or frequent disruptions in power. These fluctuations can be seen when lights flicker, but don't go out. Frequently, they are undetectable and are thus considered unimportant. While these fluctuations may not be of great importance to most of the appliances we use today, your computer is sensitive to them. They shorten the lifespan of your computer's components. A UPS will provide superior protection against such dangers, to a much higher specification than most surge suppressors, protecting your investment.

Contact Tecnopolis to discuss and evaluate UPS solutions for your business. Quality APC brand UPS units range in price from $75 to $200, and some can be used to power two or more computers.