With the computer industry moving to more green, compact and power efficient Active PFC power supplies, there’s an upgrade opportunity in your customer’s data centres that you can take advantage of today. And the next power-outage could make that opportunity readily apparent.
That was the case for Complete Systems, a Toronto-based IT reseller and solution provider. During a recent storm in the greater Toronto area that knocked-out power for several of their clients, while all three of them had an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) in place, two of them still lost power.
All three were running new systems with efficient Active PFC power supplies, but only one had a new UPS from CyberPower. The problem is that new desktops and servers with the Active PFC power supplies aren’t compatible with traditional UPS systems. So, in the case of a storm, if a new system is connected to an old UPS it won’t perform as expected.
It was a surprise for Complete Systems’ two clients that lost power, and partner Warren Fine said days later he was on his way to those clients with new UPS systems from CyberPower that will see those clients through the next storm. He said he feels vendors such as Hewlett-Packard Co. have done a poor job of informing the channel and their customers that Active PFC-based systems aren’t compatible with traditional UPS.
The new power standard does mean an opportunity for the channel to go back to its customer-base and ensure their UPS systems are updated and robust. The vendor-recommended solution may be a pricy one though said Jeff Backman, director of sales, Canada, for CyberPower.
Vendors such as HP, Dell, Lenovo and Acer are recommending a Pure Sinewave UPS for Active PFC-based systems. But Backman said Pure Sinewave is designed for high-end, mission critical systems and has the price-tag to match at $400 or more. It’s just too pricy an option for the consumer, small office/home office or even SMB customer, he said.
“If you spend $1500 on a system and a Pure Sinewave UPS is $400, that’s a pretty big investment for an accessory,” said Backman. “Most consumers won’t spend more than 10 per cent of the purchase price of their PC to get power backup.”
CyberPower is aiming to fill this gap with a new technology it calls Adaptive Sinewave UPS. It’s compatible with Active PFC-based systems, as Complete Systems’ client found out, and with pricing starting at $150 it’s half the cost of a Pure Sinewave system, making it a better fit for the SOHO and low-end SMB market.
Backman said its line of Adaptive Sinewave UPS systems is available now, and CyberPower is actively recruiting channel partners across Canada to help bring the offerings to market. As a sweetener, he said CyberPower is offering partners a five per cent rebate on the backend, in addition to its standard margins.Follow Jeff Jedras on Twitter: @JeffJedrasCDN.
