Power Protection and UPS Blog

Chris in our sales team just sent me this for the blog - Avaya Dummies Guide to Voice over IP. This is ideal for people who need to understand the options and benefits of IP Telephony. It is a free downloadable book in PDF format which shows how converging your traditional voice and data networks can save money and increase efficiency and productivity throughout your organization. (PDF, 517 kB).

We have also produced a UPS related white paper The Vulnerabilities of Power Over Ethernet cabling which may be interesting for those needing further information on this related topic.

Hi-tech DIY to solve local problems - that’s the title of an article by Clark Boyd, Technology Correspondent at BBC News. Of all the cool, futuristic machines featured on the television series Star Trek, the “replicator” was certainly one of the most useful. This articles discuses personal fabrication at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Aside from sheep with mobile phones as an example to that they can be located on moutains, part of the article covers alternative energy.

Graduate student Amy Sun is working on designs for small solar reflectors that are easy to manufacture. Sun, who has helped set up labs, had the idea because almost everywhere she went she found a lack of locally available power. “It’s extremely frustrating,” Sun says. “We spend a lot of time picking machines that can make nearly anything, and we’re all stuck with this one little problem, which is that we can’t plug into anything. “The idea here is to think about getting power not from a central source, but from a small reflector that you can put anywhere you need it.” For more information on Solar Arrays used in the Space Programme click here.

A web event not to be missed on October 3rd between 14h00 and 15h00! Eric Bonneville from AERE will present a discussion paper on the subject of Liberalisation and Energy Efficiency. Liberalization has improved the administrative efficiency of the electricity system, but what has been its impact on technical performance? Energy efficiency of the distribution system, its technical quality of supply and environmental performance are issues which where largely conspicuous in their absence in the debate, but maybe it is time to address them now. To register click here.

Here another conference on energy - Energy 2005: Challenges Across Europe - As liberalisation continues across Europe creating increasingly competitive markets, greater emphasis is being placed on the need to establish a foothold in these opening markets and seize opportunities effectively. Additionally, as concerns continue over the impact of rising wholesale energy prices and the need to secure future energy supplies, this conference comes at an ideal time, offering an excellent platform for key decision makers to debate these substantial issues.

We just came across this notice from the Central Computing Services at Birkbeck University London. On Sunday 25 September there was a dramatic failure of their uninterruptible power supply which took out power to most of the servers. We do not know what type of UPS technology they are using but an on-line UPS is designed to fail safely to mains as it has a built-in automatic bypass. In case of UPS overload or failure this transfers the load(s) to the mains supply. On-line UPS from about 8kVA upwards can also be put in parallel/N+1 configurations to bring more resilience.

Organised by Siemens, these half-day management briefings will discuss key issues and trends in crisis management, emergency planning and IT recovery including power protection and its importance to business continuity. The London briefing will take place on Tuesday 8th November and the Leeds one on Wednesday 16th November. Click for more information.

Just how do you plan for UPS back up power with VoIP hardware on a network ? Here is a piece from Cambridge University entitled: Requirements for an institution’s network to carry UTN VoIP traffic.

In this blog there is a discussion on what happened to TV reception in Cambridge when it appears that the power went down.

Just how serious can a power failure be. Well here is another article collected from the internet on a power failure in a hospital and the problems that ensued when the back up generator failed - St George’s Hospital Tooting.

Another new innovation from our Italian TEC design team is the latest generation of NetMan SNMP adapters for Riello UPS. Here is a short Technical Bulletin on the product.