Power Outages: Evaluating the Cost & Risk 1

The cyclone Title in Orissa caused widespread damage to energy and power infrastructure, which is a clear reminder that power outages are still one of the major cause of business downtime which can result in loss of revenue. The cost of downtime in business can be categorised into direct and indirect cost.

Direct Cost which are directly related to production. For example:

• Lost wage for employees
• Low revenue during power outage
• Loss incurred from damaged equipments.

And the Indirect cost is something that is not directly accountable to cost object i.e not directly related to production. For example:

• Negative image of the brand in public.
• Reduced customer satisfaction.
• Advantage for competitors.

This means that coming up with strategies to mitigate the impact of power outages should be considered as an important step in running a business. Like any other business decision, coming up with power protection strategy means assessing the risk of an outage as well as the cost of downtime. For most of the small-medium businesses, the cost of downtime can continue at the same rate during the period of the outage whereas for others the downtime can lead to customer dis-satisfaction and the brand image can take a hit.

After the assessment of the cost of downtime is made, the next step is to understand how probable it is that the power outage will occur along with the risk involved. The next step is to find out the frequency of the power outages. This will help in determining how much power protection is needed to ride through the power outages having various duration without significant business loss.

Never be caught off-guard when the lights go out. Find out the various software configurations and best practice aimed at ensuring maximum uptime:

1. Protecting a single computer with single UPS: In this configuration type, each computer is connected by its own UPS which communicates over USB cable. UPS software is installed on the computer and it is managed locally. This configuration can be configured for both server and the workstation deployments.

2. Protecting two or three computers with single UPS: In this configuration, usually 2-3 computers are connected to the UPS, typically a UPS with capacity of more than 1500VA. One unit will be connected directly to the serial port of the UPS while the other units are connected to expansion card installed in the UPS. This configuration can be also be extended to handle multiple computers.

3. Protecting three or more computers with single UPS: A network management card which is installed in the UPS eliminates the use for the server based management. Software installed on the computer using this configuration only need to make use of shutdown functionality since the management capabilities are embedded in the UPS.

“Even a moment’s disruption can have devastating effects on power sensitive customers such as internet service providers, data centers, online traders, computer chip manufacturers and medical research centers. For these customers, power disruption can result in data corruption, burned circuits boards, file corruption and lost customers.” says US Dept of Energy Office of Power Technologies.

The effect of UPS is to delay the inevitable unless you’re making use of shutdown software installed on the computer. APC recommends customers not to overlook this requirement-the effort involved in installing & configuring the software is well worth in the event of extended power outages.

To determine which UPS is right for you, check out our blog where we discuss the factors to consider before buying UPS