For any data center, maintaining uptime in a world fraught with potential hazards that could cause downtime is the highest priority. Today, most data centers try to take advantage of every possible option to ensure uptime is maximized in the event of a problem. An emergency-proof UPS, along with adequate redundancy, can help significantly improve uptime. But, in a world where even a few seconds of downtime can be extremely costly and problematic, even redundancy and a good UPS may still not be enough. The problem lies in the rate at which technology evolves. In most other industries, a backup plan or emergency supply can be determined once, maintained and executed should it ever be needed. But, in the technology industry, what would have worked 6 months ago for your data center may now be outdated or insufficient.
A data center uses power 24/7 which means that its UPS system is also being tasked with maintaining power 24/7. By reducing power usage and improving efficiency, even a small amount, it can significantly lighten the load of your UPS system. Truly, any data center can probably benefit from improving energy efficiency for more than one reason but helping your UPS system is an important reason. Data centers have a life cycle and rapidly change so it is important to constantly monitor and audit energy usage so that you can determine the best UPS system to ensure proper redundancy and power supply. As more and more power is needed in a data center, UPSs are often added to provide power supply protection. The thing is, UPS capacity is often not fully utilized so there is significant energy waste. If your UPSs are becoming outdated and you are constantly adding more and more backup power supplies it may be time to consolidate them and upgrade them to better improve data center energy efficiency and provide better backup power protection for your data center. It is always better to consolidate or upgrade your data center’s UPS before it fails, rather than after, because loss of data and uptime can be avoided. Additionally, when consolidation or upgrades are made there is often a significant increase in efficiency for the data center which means that the investment will more than pay for itself very quickly. While a full overhaul of your UPS may not be necessary, things will gradually begin to show their age and fail so the sooner you consolidate and upgrade, the better. Don’t overtax your UPS and cross your fingers, make the changes before problems arise so that uptime can be maximized, which ultimately, is the most important thing to clients.
