The 40th anniversary of the APC UPS: The journey of innovation continues

This audio was created using Microsoft Azure Speech Services

It’s the piece of IT equipment that most of us take for granted, and it is sometimes forgotten in implementation plans. But it’s also absolutely essential to bring reliability to IT operations by protecting everything from desktop PCs to servers to entire data centers.

Of course, we’re talking about the uninterruptible power supply (UPS), and this year, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first UPS created by APC in 1984 – the 300PC. Now ubiquitous wherever you find IT equipment, UPS technology has grown in sophistication and capabilities thanks to numerous innovations along the way. It’s a fundamental component of any new IT implementation or upgrade. IT solution providers recognize its importance and have made great strides over the decades to ensure their customers also grasp its value.

The role of the UPS

The UPS delivers reliability and peace of mind. It provides temporary backup power when outages occur. It ensures the flow of “clean” power to IT equipment to prevent damage from spikes, surges, and flickers in normal operation.

Over the decades, the UPS has grown in stature as IT teams and organizations have become increasingly dependent on data. Now, as the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, and other data-intensive technologies infiltrate our lives, the UPS has never been more important.

AI is powering an increasing array of mission-critical applications in every industry, from healthcare to education, manufacturing, logistics, and transportation. And you, our partners, have accompanied us on our journey, advising customers on how best to protect their IT and data investments, with the UPS as an essential component.

A critical value add for IT solution partners

Currently, about 150,000 IT partners globally leverage our UPS solutions and associated technologies to help protect customer infrastructure. In delivering this essential technology, our partners have leveraged the UPS to help grow their business. They have relied on programs such as mySchneider IT Partner Program to provide solutions, services, and support to meet customer needs, and the EcoXpertTM Partner Program for power continuity, cooling and IT infrastructure services.

You have been with us since APC started building a market 40 years ago with the 1984 introduction of our first UPS. Then, a few years later, in 1989, we revolutionized power management with the launch of PowerChuteTM software, enabling the graceful shutdown of critical hardware and protecting the data on this hardware. The same year, we entered partnerships with two major IT distributors, which proved consequential in building our partner ecosystem.

Throughout the decades, we’ve continued to innovate. In 1990, we introduced the Smart-UPSTM brand of UPS, now considered the industry’s premier network power protection solution. In 2004, we introduced the now industry-leading InfraStruXure architecture, the first scalable modular, energy-efficient, network-critical physical infrastructure (NCPI) architecture, which is an integral part of complete power and cooling systems. For a blast from the past, hop into the Way Back Machine to check out the original InfraStruXureTM offer.

The innovation journey continues

With our industry-leading EcoStruxureTM IT portfolio, our vendor-neutral data center infrastructure management (DCIM) solutions enable our customers to operate the most resilient, secure, and sustainable IT infrastructure anywhere. We offer business continuity with secure monitoring, management, planning, and modeling from a single IT rack to hyper-scale IT, on-premises, in the cloud, and at the edge. Software services help implement the value of EcoStruxure IT solutions to drive business growth and achieve desired results.

Other recent innovations include introducing products with recycled and recyclable materials to support your and your customers’ sustainability strategies. We’ve also increased the use of lithium-ion batteries in UPS models, from small home office units to industrial-grade power-protection systems. Lithium-ion enables longer lifecycles and reduces footprint and maintenance costs, all of which contribute to the goal of decarbonization.

Building a sustainable future

Digitization and electrification are central to sustainability strategies across almost every industry. To support these efforts, we are investing in technologies such as the Smart-UPSTM Modular Ultra. The most sustainable UPS of its kind, it aligns with the growing demand for sustainable solutions and recycling programs.

The Smart-UPS Modular Ultra provides much-needed reliability and protection at a time when power outages have become more frequent and longer-lasting. The solution is built to deliver maximum efficiency in both consumption and footprint, supporting decarbonization efforts.

We will continue to innovate as we look into the next 40 years and beyond. And we will continue to rely on you as trusted advisors to our customers to help us make an impact on the market. With everything and everyone connected now, organizations need innovative technology to run their operations sustainably and with peace of mind. The journey continues. As in the past, we will walk it together. Please check out our 40th Anniversary website, #40YearsOnfor the full innovation journey and see how we can help you evolve your business.

Tags: , , , ,

Add a comment

All fields are required.

Your browser is out of date and has known security issues.

It also may not display all features of this website or other websites.

Please upgrade your browser to access all of the features of this website.

Latest version for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edgeis recommended for optimal functionality.