Everyone wants to save a dollar or two, so they buy the new computer, monitor and printer, and skimp on some of the other components. One in particular is power protection.
By power protection, we mean surge protectors and uninterruptable power supplies (UPS) primarily.
The fact that a few dollars were saved on the front-end may end up costing big dollars in the long run.
Case in point: A friend and client recently had a lightning strike event at their home (again), and multiple devices were damaged. His brand new notebook computer was shipped off to the factory by the place he purchased it and was out of commission for two weeks. A high density USB hub was destroyed, as were several other components.
Had this fella purchased an inexpensive UPS, he could have possibly avoided the downtime, expense and frustration.
We are dealers for APC, Eaton and other companies that provide outstanding power protection products and highly recommend that individuals and businesses incorporate these units into their infrastructure.
Should you wish to discuss protecting your sensitive electronics, server rooms, computers, servers, networks or even your home electronics and avoid expensive computer repair or service or replacement, please call us at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com
One lightning strike can ruin your whole day...
Last night was scary for some people here in the Upstate of SC. Easley was hit hard in the business area of Main Street and Pendleton Street and residences along 135 by the passing storms.
As I watched the news and saw the video footage of damage, I felt horrible for the business and home owners affected. We turned on the scanner radio and listened as emergency crews went street by street, clearing each house they came to. We heard that business owners would not be allowed back into their business until 8 AM today, and an entire condo was evacuated and they were not allowed in until after power was restored.
Those who did not suffer structural damage from the wind, or trees falling on their building and the water that poured in, may have suffered in other ways. Servers and workstations that were not on an UPS (Un-Interruptable Power Supply) went down when the power went out, losing any data that was not saved, and potentially corrupting hard drives or data that was being written at the time.
Then there is the damage to electronics, especially computers & servers, when the power attempts to come on, spikes, surges, brownouts. These power events have the potential for destroying sensitive components.
A simple and relatively inexpensive device such as an APC or Eaton UPS could help prevent costly damage, lost productivity and save your data by automatically shutting down the computer after a power failure, saving data properly, and during the continual power up/power down cycles, provide the filtering necessary to protect your systems. Your insurance company may offer discounts for coverage of equipment covered by UPS due to the reduced chance of costly computer server repair or service, or even replacement.
Another nice feature of an UPS would be to supply power to internet routers / switches, CCTV system and VoIP systems to allow you to view your security cameras to assess possible damage before you can even enter your building (If the internet connection is not severed), and your phone systems can continue to function if you have a large enough UPS so that Voice Mail and FAX can still come in. An UPS can serve to power your systems until your generator comes online if you have one, so your Microsoft Exchange system may never go offline assuming your building is not one of the ones affected by structural damage.
The obvious next layer of protection is a backup solution, such as an onsite backup, whether it is an LTO, DLT or other tape drive, external hard drives, NAS / SAN etc, which could help if the need to restore data comes up… Taking that idea one step further would offer an offsite, or online backup solution, placing your data “in the cloud” safely away from your geographic location, so if a fire, tornado, flood or even a theft occurs, your data is located elsewhere and can be downloaded to a new computer or server.
If you would like to discuss how power protection and backup solutions can safeguard your systems or if you require assistance with a business continuity plan, please email info@homelandsecureit.com or call 864.990.4748. We are partners with APC, Eaton, Symantec, Quantum and Servosity. We also offer a FREE trial of the Servosity Online Backup Solution….
Free Servosity Online Backup Trial
One lightning strike can ruin your whole day...
This last week has been a bad week for computers in Greenville & the Upstate. I don’t know what it is, but we have had computers come in with fried power supplies, toasted motherboards and hard drives, and a call from a potential client this morning with a dead PC and a destroyed hard drive.
Power protection experts estimate that over half of all dead power supplies could have been prevented if an UPS / Uninterruptable Power Supply had been used. That’s a lot of power supplies! And more importantly, that is a lot of money that consumers could potentially save.
While the power supply itself is not expensive, usually costing less than 100 dollars on most computers, the damage that a power supply can cause to the PC can be much greater. We have seen entire motherboards ripped apart and even fires on the extreme end of the spectrum, and lesser damage such as zapped memory, processors, and hard drives on the other end. At the very least, a power supply that fails will cost you in terms of time and inconvenience.
Should a hard drive be damaged by one of these power events, you could potentially lose everything on the drive, or need to send it out for recovery if you don’t have backups. What? You don’t have backups? Please try our FREE trial of Servosity Online Backup before it is too late….
What can you do to protect yourself? Install an UPS! We are proud to be Eaton Power Advantage partners and can offer the full line of Eaton products. They have an UPS for every application, from your small home system, home office, small, medium and large business, all the way up to enterprise and data center solutions! Don’t forget about your expensive Apple Mac systems, CCTV and VoIP systems, they need protection too!
Please check out the Eaton Product Showcase at http://www.homelandsecureit.com/Partners/Eaton-Power-Products.html
Or, call us for more information at 864-990-4748 – email info@homelandsecureit.com
Typical APC UPS Replacement Battery
As computer service technicians in the field, all to often we see an UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) in use at a client location which is simply not going to function when the time comes for it to do the job it was designed for.
Many times the “Replace Battery” indicator has been on for a while, and the alarm has been silenced because it was annoying to the workers in the office.
When should you replace your battery? Most UPS have a battery that is good for at least 2 years. In mission critical installations, such as for servers, data centers, T1 / cable / dsl & network gear, access control, alarm systems and VoIP phone systems, you may wish to replace the batteries every 2 years on a rotating schedule. For less important equipment, such as a single workstation, the “Replace Battery” indicator can be your guide. When you see that LED come on, or should the UPS be alarming, then replace the battery or battery pack at the first convenient moment.
Modern power protection systems like the APC and Eaton line of UPSs perform automatic tests, but you can check your manual for how to initiate a manual test. One way is to simply cut the power to the UPS and see if it has adequate backup time, but the best way is to use the software that will allow you to perform a calibration on the UPS and view a graph of power events. Performing the calibration will give you the best idea of how long the unit can provide power in an outage to the equipment attached.
Be friendly to our planet and replace the batteries instead of the entire unit, unless you have a very old UPS. You can save up to 50% over the cost of a new UPS by renewing the batteries! Also, be sure to dispose of the battery properly, and please do not just dump it in the dumpster. The supplier of the battery or battery pack will generally take your old battery and recycle for you.
Homeland Secure IT provides sales, service and support for UPS and power protection equipment in Greenville & the Upstate. Should you need a new UPS or a battery replaced, please call us at 864-990-4748 or email us at info@homelandsecureit.com for more information.
Time to replace that old computer? Wanting the latest and greatest? Bigger (or smaller), faster, cooler? Are you just looking for a good excuse to treat yourself? I know I am! Late Father’s Day gift to yourself? Early Christmas? How about an Independence Day gift? That sounds good!
In any case, if you are planning on buying a new notebook or desktop computer, don’t forget to protect that investment with the purchase of these items:
Anti-Virus / Anti-Malware:There is no way you can survive these days without proper anti-virus on your computer! Regardless of your platform, you need this protection. Our favorite is Trend Micro Anti-Virus, which we sell and install. However, if you are truly replacing your computer and not just adding another one, you may already own current anti-virus software. If you do, then you can download and install on the new computer, using the same activation code. Getting a Mac and think you can run “bareback” because they are immune to viruses, trojans, etc… Think again. More and more malicious software is targeting Apple Mac OS X.
Uninterruptable Power Supply / UPS: You are buying an expensive piece of hardware, and then trusting that the power company is going to deliver a good clean source of power to your system. A surge protector can help, but an UPS will not only protect the hardware, it will keep you from losing documents you are working on should the power go out. Our favorite brands of power protection products are APC and Eaton. They make an UPS for every situation, whether you need to protect a single computer, a complete system with monitor, modem, printer, etc or you have to protect a server or a data center.
Backup Solution: You now have an awesome system, with lots of room to download music and store thousands or tens of thousands of photos, movies, etc… What happens in the event of a hard drive failure? These days, you can use online backup solutions such as our Servosity service which will automatically backup your data to the cloud (the internet) in a safe and secure (encrypted) data center. You can then restore your data in the event of a loss. We also offer physical backup solutions, such as USB drives, tape backup systems, Symantec Backup Exec, and we do work with other backup providers as well.
Insurance Rider: Your insurance policy may not cover an expensive computer system. Check with your insurance carrier to make sure you are properly covered in the event of a loss to fire, flood, theft, lightning strike, etc. Many times a rider can be added to your policy for only a few dollars a month that will protect your hardware, and even software.
If you have any questions about these solutions and what may be right for you, please do not hesitate to call us, we can provide computer repair, consultation and sales. We are authorized resellers for APC & Eaton power protection products, Trend Micro anti-virus / anti-malware, Servosity, Mozy & Symantec backup solutions and more! Call us at 864-990-4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com to find out how we can help you in the Greenville / Upstate SC area…
