The Connection, Inc Blog

What would happen if you were in the middle of typing a report or performing some task, and the office suddenly lost power? Too many would find themselves staring blankly at an equally blank screen as their infrastructure suddenly ceased operations. However, there is a device that can help save you from the worst effects of sudden power loss.

Simply put, there should not be any device that is used for business purposes that is not connected to an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) with a battery backup failsafe. In this case, any device really means any device--your servers should have this preventative measure put in place around them as well. Their purpose is two-fold.

First, a UPS is intended to protect your devices against the sudden surges and dips that an electrical system can experience for any number of reasons. These fluctuations in power can gradually damage a device, especially the more sensitive, high-end ones like servers or specialized desktops. Naturally, it only makes things worse if the device in question is to suddenly lose power completely--not to mention the fact that anything you had accomplished since you had last saved is almost certainly lost.

A UPS helps to prevent these issues in the event that your office ever has a surge or dip in its power supply, or totally loses power without warning.

The first task of a Uninterrupted Power Supply is fairly self-evident: it is intended to supply your devices with an uninterrupted source of power. To do so, the UPS will regulate how much power continues into the attached device, preventing the damaging effects of sudden power fluctuations. Its second function is to serve as a backup power source in the case that power is no longer being supplied from its usual source.

This energy reserve is what makes the UPS a company\'s saving grace in a sudden power loss incident. Rather than the entire business suddenly and unexpectedly shutting down, the UPS allows the most critical pieces of IT infrastructure to be shut down safely, and all progress up to that point saved.

A UPS can be used to keep any of your technologies up and running for a time after power has been lost, mostly so that you can prevent your solutions from suffering much damage. This is especially important to have protecting your servers, which usually need a little longer than other devices to shut down safely, without putting the data stored on them (which is all of it) at risk.

Sudden power loss is a potentially disaster-level event that can influence any business, regardless of where they are. As such, you need to be sure that you have the means in place to mitigate the damage before your office goes dark. Remember, you will need to be sure that you have the right UPS devices to protect and provide for the different components of your infrastructure. A desktop with multiple monitors will have different requirements than a server will, so you need to be sure that you have what you will need to properly power down your business before you risk losing important data.

The Connection, Inc can help. Give us a call at (732) 291-5938 to discuss your UPS needs.

It doesn’t matter where your business is located--chances are you’re susceptible to thunderstorms. Lightning storms are very unforgiving, and they can lead to all sorts of problems for unprepared businesses. We’ll discuss some of the ways that your organization could be affected by a lightning storm, as well as how you can take measures to mitigate these dangers in the future.

Lightning causes problems for any electrical appliances and businesses that rely on them. The insurance industry estimates that around 6.5 percent of all claims are related to damages caused by lightning storms. Power surges are a major problem, as they can flood lines with power and cause damage to anything connected to them. Fires are also a major problem, as one freak accident could lead to your organization sifting through its own ashes looking for ways to rebuild its legacy.

Here are a couple of ways that your organization can best prepare for lightning storms and the damages that they can cause.

Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS)
Any technology that’s plugged into an outlet is at risk of being hit by a power surge. UPS devices can help your organization stave off damages from lightning storms by regulating the amount of energy flowing into them at all times. This keeps them from being hit too hard by power surges, and many surge protectors guarantee the quality of their product up to a certain amount of damage in monetary value.

UPS devices also function in a way which lets your data remain secure in the event of a power outage by giving you enough time to properly shut down your devices. This can make all the difference between losing important progress or suffering from data loss. Additionally, it also prevents damage to your hardware, thanks to regulation in energy levels.

Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR)
Data backup is necessary if you want to prevent your organization from losing data, and disaster recovery is crucial for getting back in business following a disaster incident (like a fire or lightning storm). A cloud-based BDR solution that allows for multiple backups every day, fast restoration time, and offsite data storage can really be a benefit for any organization that relies on information systems as a part of their core operations.

In general, having a business continuity plan is a critical part of ensuring that your organization can wade through the damages done by threats and disasters that could end your business. Business continuity leverages various technological assets to take preventative measures against data loss and natural disasters. A business continuity plan is a much-needed first step toward keeping your business safe from lightning storms and anything else that could threaten its existence.

To learn more about how to protect your business from disaster, reach out to The Connection, Inc at (732) 291-5938.