APC-MGE to tap the growing UPS market

UPS usage among small businesses is growing at close to 30 per cent.

The $20 billion APC-MGE, a global leader in integrated critical power and cooling services, is looking at small and medium businesses (SMEs) in India for both its high- and low-end Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) models.

APC is also looking at the SMEs in India for its green data centres that are expected to be more energy-efficient, resulting in reduction of long-term operational costs.

SMEs usually buy 800 Volt Ampere (VA) to 2KVA UPS models. "As SMEs expand operations and become increasingly tech-savvy, they are investing heavily in online UPS for managing mail servers and accounting applications. This is especially useful for SMEs that are looking at expanding in the country and would want to manage mail servers across all branch offices from one location," said Subhash Tagare, managing director, APC-MGE.

According to APC, UPS usage among Indian SMEs is growing at close to 30 per cent. But till 10 years ago, most SMEs felt that plugging in and running a PC was a simpler and cost-effective option, instead of using a UPS for back-up.

But as more SMEs look at use of compact IT equipment, and high-density applications and requirements for 24x7 power, there is simultaneous growth in cooling IT applications.

SMEs also want power management and look for UPS that allow easy network accessibility. Today, 80 per cent of PC users opt for attached back-up.

The UPS market in India is estimated at around Rs 1,600 crore. While the market for smaller UPS is growing at 30 per cent, that of larger UPS is growing at close to 10 per cent.

APC is also looking at the SMEs in India to pitch its green data centres which is expected to reduce operational costs and increase efficiency of businesses.

These are also expected to be ultra-high efficiency UPS, that come with high-voltage AC power distribution, in-row cooling, scalable power and cooling equipment, and would also offer power and cooling capacity planning and management software.

APC data centres, on an average, cost close to Rs 8 crore for a 7,000 sq ft office, depending on reliability and availability of the kind of data centre that a client is looking for.

More than 50 per cent of the power going into a typical data centre goes to the power and cooling systems and not to the IT loads.

Each data centre MW is equivalent to about 500 cars of carbon. So, a typical one MW data centre is continuously wasting about 150 cars' worth of carbon due to poor design. DOE estimates that about 675,000 cars' worth of carbon could be saved by 2015 if data centres were better designed.

APC is therefore pitching for its Green Data Centres that are expected to be ultra high efficiency UPS, with high- voltage AC power distribution, in-row cooling, scalable power and cooling equipment, and would also offer power and cooling capacity planning and management software.