Michael Maiello Discusses Schneider Electric’s PowerChute Business Edition 9.0 UPS Software

Schneider Electric recently announced APC’s PowerChute Business Edition 9.0 Uninterruptable Power Supply Software. The program provides energy reporting for IT equipment and helps customers understand their power consumption using fact-based energy, cost, and CO2 emission reports on a per Smart-UPS basis. The software has a unique ability to calculate the cost of an APC Smart-UPS’s power draw using the appropriate local currency and provide accurate depiction of how the energy is used to maximize a customer’s investment in a UPS system.

The software allows customers to configure the exact sequence in which their equipment will shut down or restart, allowing more critical servers to stay online longer during and after business hours, which can cover the cost of using an APC Smart-UPS system. To better explain this program I spoke with Michael Maiello, Vice President of Business Network Solutions for APC by Schneider Electrics, about the idea behind the software.

“APC’s foray into software came during our first evolution in power protection in 1990, that saw us migrate from just hardware protection to protecting data and ensuring safe server shutdown,” he explained. “The PowerChute Business Edition version of the software has been protecting APC Smart-UPS customers since 2000 and was developed to enable users to configure the settings on their UPS via an intuitive user interface either locally or remotely. In the event of an extended power outage, the software ensures safe system shutdown to prevent data corruption and minimize disruption and also reboots equipment automatically when power returns. PowerChute Business Edition is part of the overall APC Smart-UPS solution.”

I asked Maiello what made this program unique compared to traditional management software products.

“Traditionally, UPS management software has focused on power monitoring and protection. While continuing to do this, version 9.0 is the first UPS management software to offer innovative energy reporting capabilities of equipment being protected by each Smart-UPS,” Maiello said. “The key to any Green IT initiative is having a baseline to measure against and 60% of our Smart-UPS customers have told us that monitoring the power usage of their servers was important to them. Now with PowerChute Business Edition 9.0, they can.”

Maiello added that the PowerChute Business Edition 9.0 provides customers with:

• Energy usage reporting: Gain a fact-based understanding of the energy usage of protected equipment
• Energy costing: Understand the cost of powering protected equipment in the customers’ local currency
• CO2 emissions reporting: Monitor the environmental impact of powering protected equipment

When I asked if this program could work with any existing systems or would it only worked with newer models, he assured me that the program can work with both existing and newer Smart-UPS models.

“If customers have an existing UPS system, they can download the new software for free from the APC Web site at http://www.apc.com/tools/download/index.cfm. Customers who purchase a new APC Smart-UPS in the future will receive the version 9.0 software CD in the box,” he said. “This software will continue to work for as long as the customer needs it. New software versions are released approximately every 9 to 12 months and APC recommends customers to upgrade to benefit from new features. However, customers can continue using their existing software version without performance interruption. An exception is if customers upgrade their operating systems, they may need to upgrade the software to a newer version that supports the newest operating systems in the market.”

He added that customers with existing systems, the program will “continue to provide UPS management and safe server shutdowns (during extended power outages). With 9.0, for the first time, UPS management software will also provide fact-based energy reporting of protected equipment,” Maiello said. “At a glance, the energy usage, energy cost and CO2 emissions will be available over time on a per Smart-UPS basis. Version 9.0 also enables customers with password protected email to receive fault notifications, something not supported in earlier versions. If customers have a newer Smart-UPS model with switched outlet groups, they benefit from the same new features as above and additionally can configure their switched outlet groups to shutdown and turn on equipment in a pre-determined order, turn on/off/reboot or sleep select outlet groups and load shed less critical equipment to conserve runtime for more critical loads.”

Those interested in the program can check out PowerChute Business Edition 9.0 or download a copy at www.apc.com/tools/download/index.cfm. The program will also be shipped with all APC Smart-UPS 5KVA. This version of PowerChute provides UPS monitoring and centralized risk assessment reporting for up to five Smart-UPS’s. Customers can also purchase a version to monitor up to 25 Smart-UPS’s from the APC web site or via usual distribution channels. For more information about APC and other money saving home and office solutions, please call 800-877-4080 or visit www.apc.com.

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