What is a UPS

What is a UPS?

A UPS is an u n i n t e r r u p t i b l e power supply.
A UPS contains, among other items, a source of power, such as a battery, to provide back up power when utility power is lost or a short outage occurs. The UPS can be utilized to provide power for short-term outages or until a stand-by generator is started for longer term power back up.
The function of a modern UPS can be enhanced by utilization of communication software. This allows linking the UPS with various network and administrative platforms. As an example, SNMP (simple network management protocol) which supervise all UPSs, can communicate intelligent information over the network.

The UPS has its own battery which provides back up power for your system in the event of a power outage:

• You are protected against unexpected loss of data

If the utility power remains "off", the UPS will give you time to:

• Save open files
• Start a back up generator
• Gently shut the system down in an orderly manner

All UPSs filter the utility power to some extent however:

• Line-interactive or on-line UPSs (discussed in a separate
• technical note) provide additional hardware protection from
• utility voltage fluctuations

A UPS can be connected to your PCs, file servers, workstations and peripherals:

• So modems, external disks and other devices can all be protected, too

UPSs are also available with communications software:

• To communicate with your system and be shut down in an
  orderly fashion

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