American Power Conversion Extends Remote Monitoring Service To Include Network-Based Management Over The Network Via Web/SNMP Management Card
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Outsourced Remote Monitoring of Events Delivers Valuable Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and Site Information to Network and Facility Managers Through Phone, Paging, and/or Email
WEST KINGSTON, R.I., June 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Addressing the growing demand for highly available AC power for IT resources, American Power Conversion (APC) today announced a new addition to its outsourced remote monitoring suite. This new Internet-based service gives users the option of having information exchanged at the network level in addition to the telephony method currently available. When a UPS is coupled with an APC Web/SNMP Management Card and a 1-Year Service Contract, APC's Remote Monitoring Service is able to detect, escalate and resolve UPS problems, in many cases, prior to the customer realizing a problem exists.
``The current power crisis in the U.S. is changing the way business owners and IT managers look at power outages and the related downtime,'' said Rob Johnson, general manager of APC's Availability Enhancements Solutions Group. ``In response to these issues businesses are taking a more active approach to back-up power and UPS management. APC's Remote Monitoring Service helps customers increase overall availability on several fronts. First, APC experts monitor and manage the power system at all times, which lets IT staff focus on other issues. Second, Remote Monitoring is a preventive maintenance and budgeting tool, allowing customers to generate graphical reports with detailed information, such as the battery health or load, on specific units. Armed with this information, a business owner or IT manager can anticipate which UPS will need new batteries, or which units may need to be upgraded in the future.''
APC's Remote Monitoring Service combines the Legendary Reliability of APC availability solutions with the expertise of APC power professionals. Both solutions, the new network-based and the traditional telephone-based services include a one-year monitoring entitlement. All UPS events are sorted according to importance and sent in email format to APC's 24 x 7 Network Operations Center. APC's Network Operations staff monitor and respond to all UPS parameters/events according to the customer's pre-defined requirements. Additionally, an Environmental Monitoring Card can be added to monitor the temperature and humidity of the surrounding environment. If the area becomes too hot, for example, an alarm will be generated, and users will be notified.
Finally, detailed reports based on UPS data, such as battery health and load or input voltage, can be graphed so that APC staff can analyze trends to proactively anticipate problems, such as an overloaded UPS or a low battery. This allows problems to be detected and solved before resulting in downtime.
Other features of this service include:
-- Alarm Reports: Each alarm occurrence and duration is tracked, recorded,
and summarized in a report to the customer. User customized reports
can be instantly generated for viewing, graphing and trending
historical data. The reports are available to customers through their
customer profile or personal web page;
-- Immediate Notification: Customers are informed of events via the method
they chose, which can be by phone, paging, and/or e-mail;
-- Immediate Response: As part of an APC service contract, such as On-Site
Support or 4-Hour Response, APC ensures that field service
representative arrives at the customer site with the correct equipment
and knowledge to service the power system properly on the first visit;
and
-- Environmental Surveillance: In addition to monitoring the power system,
APC is also monitoring the ambient temperature and humidity where the
power system is located.
To promote this service, APC will provide the Remote Monitoring Service package for six months, free of charge, for customers who purchase the following APC products: Smart-UPS® 5000, APC Matrix-UPS®, APC Symmetra® Power Array®, APC Symmetra® RM, and APC Silcon® UPS. Users will then be able to renew the contracts by purchasing an annual contract. APC customers can take advantage of this offer for existing APC units by purchasing an APCWeb/SNMP Management Card, and installing it, download the firmware onto the Management Card from APC's website, and fill in the survey to begin the service. To learn more about APC's award-winning, power protection and management solutions and services, visit APC's Web site at apc.com or call APC at 800-877-4080. |
