The basic safeguard that must be guaranteed for IT systems is protection from power outage or any power supply fluctuation. This requires an efficient communication mode between the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) that ensures power continuity and the IT infrastructure, including networking devices.
If a UPS is protecting a router and the power outage lasts beyond battery runtime, the connected equipment must be safeguarded. In such a situation, the router is configured to receive a signal on an auxiliary port and to issue a close command to all open applications, saving recorded data to memory and shutting applications down without causing damage or data loss.
The Liebert solution to a low battery condition is, however, unique in that it issues this signal through a specially designed cable, fully isolated from the UPS electrical circuit. This avoids the risk that overvoltage or any other power anomaly coming from the UPS is transmitted to the connected router, adversely affecting its operation.
This unique and safe approach has been endorsed by Cisco, the world’s leading vendor in the networking industry, whose engineers have tested and approved the interface between Liebert UPS and their own routers.
In other solutions, the serial port applies voltage to the terminals of the communication cable, thus exposing the connected equipment to the risk of irregular current flows. In the case of the Liebert UPS, no voltage is found at the terminals of the communication port and the unique communications cable. The low battery signal from the Liebert UPS is provided from the voltage on the router’s auxiliary port, and not from the power supply in the UPS to the router as in other solutions.
Therefore, the Liebert UPS, unlike all other uninterruptible power supplies on the market, can, with a unique interface, guarantee the highest levels of system protection.