If disaster strikes, are you ready?

As Mother Nature has shown recently, disaster can, and will, happen.  Many people have developed plans for when it does.  From keeping candles and flashlights ready, to purchasing generators, it is best to be prepared for the worst.  But have you put those same thoughts into your business?  If the power goes out, is your server prepared?  If the electricity surges, can your networking equipment handle it and keep on working?

Power surges can wreak havoc on computer equipment if not properly protected.  Surge protectors are designed to mitigate these surges and allow your equipment to continue working normally.

Losing power can lead to your server or computers shutting down immediately.  This is never good since the machine cannot prepare for the shutdown and often leads to boot problems, data loss, or worse, a down server.  Battery backup units are designed to provide continuous power to devices and ensure proper shutdown.

Please review the information below on preparing your network for disasters.  Remember a byte of prevention is worth a grand of cure.

When purchasing battery backup units, it is essential to ensure that the unit is large enough to maintain the load that it will be running.  However, it is also true that you do not need something capable of running a server if the only thing that is going to be plugged into it is a switch.  To aid in calculating the correct size APC to purchase for the load you will have, there are many online calculators available.  There are links to some of these below for your perusal.  Or, if you would prefer to have expert advice, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to assist you in determining the battery backup needs for your company.

APC is the leading brand of battery backups on market and we highly recommend use of their products:

http://www.apc.com/tools/ups_selector/index.cfm

Another tool to help with calculations:

http://www.csgnetwork.com/upssizecalc.html