The need and demand for quality power are increasing. According to the Power Electronics Applications Center (PEAC) of the U.S. electric utility industry, the modern desktop PC (a fundamental asset for most businesses) is not compatible with the public power supply.

Business Week reports that poor power quality costs U.S. businesses more than $26 billion a year. The article also reports the following additional information:

• Half of all computer problems can be traced directly to the power line
• One-third of all data loss is caused by power problems
• Every hour of downtime for a typical mid-sized network costs its owner $18,000
• A typical computer system is subjected to more than 125 potentially devastating power disturbances each month

Fluctuations in power supply - spikes, dips, brownouts, noise, and frequency variations - can all lead to a crippling loss of data and resources. The effects of these problems range from erratic operation to hardware damage to irreversible losses of mission-critical data and operations.

Generally speaking, until a critical need arises, little thought is given to the quality and consistent delivery of essential power. Power dependency and a lack of quality power have become serious issues as domestic and world markets demand and heavily rely on viable power sources.

According to Frost and Sullivan, industry analysts:

The current power infrastructure in the U.S. as well as other parts of the world is incapable of offering clean and consistent power as a result of which, equipment will suffer fro m problems such as harmonics, surges, spikes, and blackouts.

Solutions for solving the immediate power shortage have not been implemented. Several regions still lack power capacity to meet current load conditions.

Questionable power resources create uncertainty throughout the world. In fact, utilities cannot control most outages, demand fluctuations, or even down-line contamination.

• Demand for power is increasing far more rapidly than available resources
• As resources are maximized, power disturbances increase.
• Deregulation causes less control and lack of uniformity.

In the past power backup was the major power issue. Today – in a world inundated by sensitive electronic equipment that requires quality power – power quality in ample supply has become the major issue in many user environments worldwide. Since utility companies cannot ensure quality power or control availability, businesses are taking increased responsibility for managing power to protect key equipment, business processes, and information.

Unlike traditional UPSs, Power Innovations UPQ products focus on power quality and power management. UPQs supply perfect, dependable power, while still providing battery backup.