Mission Critical Power for your data center and server rooms:
What is the best way to distribute power from my UPS?
Does the UPS system in our facility provide all the power protection I need in my facility?
Are plug in surge suppressors necessary?
Do I need Surge Suppression on my electrical service?

It seems that the discussion of mission critical facilities begins and ends on UPS/generator power and cooling. Naturally, these are very important issues but there are other considerations that often are not discussed. The distribution of UPS power and non-UPS power throughout a facility is equally important.

There are a number of ways to distribute power from a UPS. Many years ago, UPS power was routed to wall mounted panels where individual breakers fed loads in the computer room either under a raised floor or via wall outlets. Naturally, there are risks of power interruption when power is fed from a wall outlet or under the raised floor. Small computer rooms experience many failures by is accidentally unplugging the load from a wall outlet.

Use of traditional power distribution units (PDU’s) and remote power panels (RPP) provide for distribution of power under raised floors. RPP’s have been utilized to meet the increased needs of power required by modern server cabinets. Today, there are many options associated with power distribution to encompass varying degrees of redundancy and flexibility. Modern PDU’s and RPP’s can also be provided with branch circuit monitoring to provide detailed information for the IT manger about various loads in the computer room.

Recently, a new trend has developed for distribution computer power. Universal Electric, manufacturer of Starline Busway, has a product which has revolutionized the business of critical power distribution. Their solution allows installation of computer grade busway above servers to distribute computer power. This provides tremendous flexibility and reduces the clutter under raised flooring and in many cases eliminates the need for raised flooring. Larger data centers are experiencing cooling problems based on too many under floor power cables. These cables create static losses which reduce the cooling capacity of the HVAC equipment. Starline Busway distributes power from above utilizing high amperage three phase busway runs. This reduces the number of pole positions on PDU’s and RPP’s and helps to greatly reduce or eliminate underflow power cords. The result is higher reliability, better cooling and tremendous scalability.

UpTime Solutions evaluates your needs and helps to determine the options available for proper UPS power distribution. We also evaluate non-UPS loads which typically power work stations. As a result, we examine the complete building electrical system and make recommendations for service entrance and key panel locations for high quality transient voltage surge suppression. Facility wide surge suppression helps guarantee stable networks and provides protection for everything connected to the electrical system.