Battery Backup Solutions

A Backup Article Contributed by Melissa Larose

Battery Backup Solutions

Battery backup solutions are an important aspect of your overall computer and network recovery plan. Uninterruptible battery backup sources can save down time, protect your data and software from damage and be cost effective. Consider the implications of an electrical outage on your business enterprise. What would happen to your network, your data, and your employees if a battery backup was not in place before the outage occurred? Here's an educated guess.

Your employees would be paid for idle time because the system went down improperly. Your critical data has suffered damage because of the improper shutdown and reboot and you really need to decide whether or not to keep your IT department after this fiasco.

What is a Battery Backup?

A battery backup, or an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is a device meant to sit between an outlet and a computer (or other electrical device like a server or modem). It is meant to protect the electronic device from power surges or outages and therefore extend the life of the device and your data.

A battery backup provides backup to the device in the event of an actual outage and gives you the time you need to safely close and save the files you or your employees are working with. It further enables you to shutdown the computer or network in proper order and in some cases it can allow you to continue working until the power has been restored.

Battery Backup Advantages

There are battery backup products on the market that actually regulate the power coming from the outlet. This function offers some advantages the greatest of which is that just because the power fails your business doesn't. Your operations continue on without the knowledge that a power surge just hit your network and your equipment is not hit with the damage and the stress that a surge can bring.

The battery backup and regulation of the outlet power saves valuable data from being lost due to the user forgetting to save the file. It provides a clean power source with electrical interference, surges, and noise eliminated. These things can often cause the interruptions in a electrical source.

Ultimately, the battery backup can save time and money. It lengthens the life span of the equipment you are using, protects the data you store, and the keeps the work day on track and within time frame for your employees.

Battery Backup Time Limits

Battery backup time frames differ so there can be no standard answer to the question of how long can your equipment keep running on a backup battery. Products differ in the time frames they can allow for. A stand by battery backup is usually meant to keep equipment running long enough o save and close files and then shutdown the system. An on line battery backup has it's own power source so it can stay up for quite a while longer, into hours. And then there are ways to extend your battery time by using more than one battery backup device together.