Specifications

While many businesses expect their electric power to always be available, in reality, power is far from
perfect. Many events can impact power reliability, including:
• Generating station problems, including fuel shortages, human error, plant shutdowns and earthquakes
• Distribution network problems, including weather problems, trees, lightning, vehicular accidents,
overloads and construction accidents
• Local building power problems, including overloads, equipment failures, construction accidents and
poor wiring connections.
According to APC, each year a typical site averages 15 power outages that are sufficient to cause IT
system malfunction. And of these outages, 90% are less than five minutes in duration.
While power outages are the most apparent type of power problems, other irregularities in power supply
can affect computer operations and data integrity.
Understanding
power problems
What is the true cost of power problems—in other words, the cost of downtime? For many companies,
your data is your business. Business-critical data can take the form of financial transactions, online
purchases, customer demographics, correspondence, spreadsheets or any number of business
applications.
When companies do not have reliable solutions for the continuing operation of their equipment, they lose
money. If a Web server goes down due to blackout, for example, customers are apt to click over to a
competitor's Web site—and not come back. Should mission-critical computers involved in manufacturing
be damaged by a surge, inventory runs behind and schedules are missed. Data errors may occur when
electronic noise penetrates a file server. In fact, network file servers that are constantly writing to disk are
particularly susceptible to power-related problems.
How much is downtime worth to your business in lost revenue? Depending on the industry, the cost of
downtime can vary dramatically, and could cost up to $6.5 million per hour. Examples of downtime costs
include:
Brokerage: $6.5M/hr
Energy: $2.8M/hr
Credit card operations: $2.6M/hr
Telecommunications: $2M/hr
Financial: $1.5M/hr
Retail: $1M/hr
Health care: $636K/hr
[sources: Network Computing, March 5, 2001
6
; Contingency Planning Research, a Division of Eagle Rock
Alliance
7
]
The Internet has further emphasized that availability equals viability. According to the Yankee Group
research firm, half of corporations surveyed rate their Internet downtime costs at more than $1,000 per
hour, and nine percent rate Internet downtime costs at more than $50,000 per hour.
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The cost of
downtime
Today, companies rely on computer systems to run almost every aspect of their business. In an ideal
world, the electricity to power these systems would flow 24x7, without quality problems or interruption.
However, no business is immune to power problems or occasional power outages.
Just how big a problem is power quality? Consider the following findings:
• “Power problems are the largest cause (45%) of data loss and server downtime.” [source:
Contingency Planning Research
3
]
• "Electrical interruptions will cost U.S. companies some $80 billion this year (2000)." [source:
Worldwatch Institute
4
]
• "Power disturbances account for about one third of all server failures." [source: IDC
5
]
The need for power protection
Advanced power protection solutions for high availability
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