Don’t rely on yesterday’s UPS to protect today’s network

Past performance is no indication of future results. What’s true of investments also holds for power protection. Just because your trusty old UPS has never failed you in the past doesn’t mean that it can safeguard your critical applications with the same unfailing reliability today or tomorrow.

If your business has grown over the past three years, you’ve most likely upgraded your IT environment to accommodate this business growth. Or perhaps you’ve rolled out new applications (such as server virtualisation, consolidation, and network convergence) that put “more eggs in one basket.” In either case, relying on yesterday’s UPS is a risky way to handle the increasing criticality of today’s IT deployments.

But even if your IT environment has remained static, don’t be lulled into a false sense of security. Even the best UPS batteries last only an average of 3–5 years—sometimes less. Millions of UPS batteries expire every year, often without users ever realising that their UPS is no longer providing the power protection they are counting on.

APC by Schneider Electric offers three ways to proactively recharge your peace of mind and make sure the UPS doesn’t become the weak link in your IT environment:

1. Upgrade to a new UPS with the latest technology

A UPS bought only three years ago relies on “old” technology. A UPS in today’s network environments requires backup runtime of hours, not minutes. Increased loads call for much greater VA capacity. IT managers need a higher degree of visibility into their physical infrastructure to manage these more complex networks. And newer technology has improved the energy efficiency of UPSs by 30–40%, making them less expensive to operate. The cost of a new UPS is small compared to the risk of depending on an aging unit to prevent data loss and system downtime.

2. Extend the life of your current UPS

Continue to rest easy with a rejuvenated factory warranty that covers your entire UPS—batteries as well as parts. A 1- or 3-Year Service Pack Extended Warranty prolongs the reliability of your UPS, giving you greater peace of mind. And in the unlikely event of a failure, your UPS will be repaired or replaced quickly by factory-trained technicians—we guarantee free next-business-day delivery of parts or unit to ensure you get what you need as soon as you need it.

3. Purchase only genuine APC Replacement Battery Cartridges

With a UPS even just a couple of years old, it’s not if the unit fails because of an aging battery but when. Replace your aging battery with an authentic APC replacement battery cartridge (RBC). Don’t compromise the Legendary Reliability^® of your APC UPS by installing anything less than a genuine APC RBC. Only genuine APC replacement batteries are guaranteed for 100% compatibility. All RBCs come with a one-year warranty, and APC recycles used batteries in an environmentally friendly manner—almost 100% of the lead content is reused.