01 November 2024
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.
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.
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 PowerChute™ 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 EcoStruxure™ IT portfolio, our vendor-neutral data centre 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.
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-UPS™ Modular Ultra. The most sustainable UPS of its kind, it aligns with the growing demand for sustainable solutions and recycling programs.
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. The journey continues. As in the past, we will walk it together. Please check out our 40th Anniversary website, 40 Years On, for the full innovation journey and see how we can help you evolve your business.
