APC power distribution and monitoring.

Due to the present uncertainty regarding the supply of energy in Europe, it is more important than ever that data centres and data rooms are equipped with an emergency power solution. This ensures that you do not lose any critical data or experience downtime for your users. In our digital society, this type of incident soon leads to major losses. It is therefore strongly advisable to safeguard yourself and your business against emergency situations that may arise.

These solutions are under constant development and we would therefore like to give you a relevant update on the possibilities available from APC, a market leader and innovator in this sector. There are several innovations we would like to run through with you in this article.

Management

Management of these devices and their effectiveness for relevant applications and/or users is a major focus point for APC. With each UPS, you have the option of installing PowerChute software and determining which parts of your infrastructure need to continue working the longest. This allows you to maximise the uptime of your most critical applications by shutting down less important applications in the event of a power failure.

Due to the growing use of edge devices, it is quite a challenge to manage the different emergency power solutions that are installed in different physical locations. APC provides a software solution called EcoStruxure IT Expert that centralises information such as age, correct functioning, firmware version and other details for easier management. Not only does this enable you to protect the investment but also free up time for tasks that have greater urgency.

Innovations

EcoStruxure IT Expert is just one of the innovations with which APC aims to help customers maximise the value of their investment. With the help of this tool, APC makes it possible to manage the complete ecosystem of its supported products. This tool saves on time and provides automated lifecycle management. In addition, it also provides support for including third party devices in the complete inventory so that these devices can be monitored. Alarms can be set via the monitoring functions in various ways to enable you to find the cause of the alarm much more quickly.

The data that is used for this tool is completely RSA 2048 bit encrypted and it is possible for the administrator to generate and download reports. In addition, APC’s portfolio has been changed and optimised for various UPS solutions. Lithium-ion batteries are widely known for their use in smartphones, laptops and electric vehicles but because of their high energy density and reliability, APC has also developed UPS solutions that deliver up to 3000 VA using lithium-ion batteries. Although these batteries already existed, they now have a new level of density and reliability thanks to newer iterations of this technology.

It is now possible to obtain 3000 VA in a 1U (4.45 cm) form factor which means that a very high density can be achieved. Heavier UPS models still use VRLA or lead-acid batteries with a battery life of three to five years, however, whereas the expected life of a lithium-ion battery is eight to ten years.

Computer and peripheral equipment

APC offers various solutions for protecting your computer and peripheral equipment:

Easy UPS BV and SMV series to protect individual computers with basic functionality and without expandability
The Back UPS (Pro) range protects your wireless networks, computers, gaming consoles and other similar electronic devices. This range offers surge protection, battery backup and a choice between tower or floor-standing models. Extra features in the Back UPS Pro range are AVR, an LCD display, energy-saving features and network manageability

These products are budget-friendly and protect your investments against potential damage due to lightning strikes, electricity grid instability and other power supply interruptions. These solutions enable you to store data securely and shut down your devices correctly without disastrous consequences.

Network and server

Your infrastructure uses more power than the individual devices of users. We have a number of specific solutions with various possibilities for your network and data room or data centre. We list them briefly below:

Easy UPS On-line: this category for network and server is the most budget-friendly solution without compromising greatly on functionality. This UPS is available as a tower or rack model but does not provide any option for expansion
Smart-UPS: this line-up includes models that provide entry level, standard and scalable runtime. This series is an intermediate step between Easy UPS and Smart-UPS Online that enables you to make cost-efficient and scalable purchases. It uses line interactive conversion technology, however, rather than double online conversion
Smart-UPS Online: we usually recommend this UPS for critical systems, scalability, reliability and manageability. The models scale up to 20,000 VA, which means that you can connect complete racks to this UPS without problem and with sufficient autonomy
Symmetra: this UPS range has the greatest reliability of the listed categories and a high level of scalability which means that there is a great deal of flexibility in the amount of autonomy provided. Some distinguishing features are hot-swappable batteries and built-in intelligence

Data centre and building three-phase

For larger solutions such as complete data centres and/or buildings, several line-ups are available from APC depending on needs:

Easy UPS 3L, Easy UPS 3M and Easy UPS 3S are the most budget-friendly versions though do compromise on functionality and scalability. However, these are highly specific and customised solutions and use cases certainly exist for this entry-level solution
Symmetra PX scales from 10 kVA to 500 kVA and is fully redundant which makes this three-phase solution an attractive option for consolidated protection of a large number of devices and/or an entire data centre or building
Gutor PXC UPS systems are available from 10 to 80 kVA (400 V) and from 25 to 100 kVA (208 V). This series focuses on industrial applications and is highly compact. Integrations with existing facility monitoring systems ensure easy implementation. This UPS can also operate in more challenging environments ranging from -10 °C to 55 °C
Galaxy VL/VM/VX UPS systems can be scaled up to 1500 kVA depending on the use case and are modular, have a very high level of density and are highly scalable. A notable technological feature of this UPS is its ECOnversion mode that is unique in APC’s range and which can help to achieve total efficiency of up to 99%. This can result in considerably high savings
Galaxy Lithium Ion Battery Systems are also available for higher energy density and battery life and with comparable functionalities

Specific solutions

APC also provides possible solutions for environments where guaranteeing power supply and monitoring power purity is not evident.

One example is its Marine series with special filters. These filters ensure that the power supplied by a ship is cleaned and any disruptions are smoothed out while the UPS still complies with the required international standards.

In addition, APC provides possibilities to give more challenging environments the same autonomy and stability as the industrial versions of the UPS that we have already discussed. However, this specific solution has an even greater temperature range and is resistant to humidity, salt and other erosive characteristics of the surrounding air.

As all the solutions are considered with our customers on a customised basis, it is not possible to show explicit standard models here.

Contact our APC specialist.

If you would like to find out more about the possibilities offered by APC and Bechtle

Nico Sannen

hardware@bechtle.be

Contact our APC specialist.

If you would like to find out more about the possibilities offered by APC and Bechtle.

Nico Sannen

hardware@bechtle.be