Cloud computing services for uninterruptible power supply systems and market trends

A few days ago, my personal computer had an Outlook email system malfunction, I tried to install the software several times, but failed, and finally I had to give up and decide to use the email application provided by my Internet service provider (ISP). This application provides a temporary mail delivery solution, but it does not have Outlook calendars, appointments, task management, memos, and other features.

The temporary solution I'm using is actually a cloud computing service that my ISP has been offering years ago when the term "cloud computing" has not yet occurred, and it does conform to Wikipedia's definition of cloud computing services: "An online application that can be accessed from another Web service or software, The software and data used are stored on the server. ”

The advantages of cloud computing services

As mentioned earlier, we have in fact inadvertently used cloud computing services, which are not just based on a single server, but also interconnect multiple servers with cloud computing architecture components, providing managed and virtual backup services that can replace or supplement UPS solutions. However, the current development of cloud services is still in its infancy and is poised to become a mainstream technology in the future, bringing us a new and unimaginable application.

We have briefly described the promising future of such applications: by using cloud computing, the North Carolina State Suri County North Hospital has streamlined 20 servers, reduced power consumption, avoided 25,000-dollar UPS upgrade costs, and reduced network congestion and backup storage requirements by 80% , which reduced the total length of nightly backups from 14 hours to less than an hour, helping the hospital to save $ hundreds of thousands of in cost.

Clearly, the recent trend towards cloud computing technology suggests that within a few years cloud computing will quickly rise and become a popular technology in most industries. According to the data Corporation2009 study, global companies ' spending on cloud computing services will maintain a 26% annual compound growth rate, from 17.4 billion to $44.2 billion, between 2009 and 2013. A survey by Forrester research in September 2010 showed that 51% of small and medium-sized enterprises plan to deploy cloud computing infrastructure services.

Clearly, manufacturers, service providers, and users of UPS systems should consider the impact of cloud computing technology on the UPS market and the future direction of the UPS system as more and more companies adopt cloud computing technology, because cloud computing technology will bring the following advantages to the enterprise:

Cost savings: By adopting cloud computing technology, companies will be able to outsource data hosting and software applications with simple, low-cost computers within the company. In addition, the use of cloud computing services companies to provide applications can also help enterprises to reduce or save operational costs, such as firewall security costs, software development human resources costs, and on-site software and hardware maintenance and maintenance-related costs.

Expand the size of the business on the basis of existing resources: by outsourcing hosting and application services, companies need to increase their operations without additional investment and further cost savings as a result of the need for additional staffing; In addition, when the business is in trouble, the enterprise can contract out part of the business, no need to dismiss staff.

Pay according to the usage demand: The enterprise can pay the service cost of outsourcing cloud computing according to the frequency of service, and pay the small amount of information hosting fee regularly. This makes it possible to reduce spending in difficult times and reduce marginal costs in the longer term.

Free choice of the level of protection required: cloud computing technology can provide a more reliable and usable backup service for enterprises, especially for SMEs, compared to servers within the enterprise. With this technology, service providers can provide the necessary hardware and virtual redundancy to meet any customer availability and reliability requirements by virtue of their own strength or in collaboration with other industry companies.

The influence of cloud computing technology on UPS market trend

By common sense, cloud computing technology will not replace UPS power, but also to promote the market's overall demand for UPS power. Cloud computing services, such as application outsourcing, information hosting, and repetitive data storage and updates for virtual redundancy, will dramatically increase Internet traffic and the amount of data processed by cloud computing servers, all of which require UPS protection; and the continuous innovation of future applications may raise the demand for data processing to an unprecedented level.

Each digital service consumes a lot of electricity, unless an effective superconductor or other technological invention is available, the power consumption of the transmission of the electric carrier is greatly reduced, otherwise the total computing power required by the server and the quality of the service will continue to increase as the information processed and transmitted by the server increases. So it seems that we can predict that the future of uninterruptible power supply systems is still vast and beautiful.

However, cloud computing technology will dramatically change the current UPS market structure and have a direct impact on products, suppliers, and users. Based on the above findings and other survey data, as well as on the impact of cloud services on the current computer market, we can predict that the uninterruptible power supply market will usher in the following trends:

The main growth of UPS power will be in the hosting and application services sector, where companies need to rely on large data centers capable of handling massive amounts of data to meet the growing demands of consumers of cloud computing services.

These infrastructures need to deploy efficient, scalable, compact UPS solutions to save cost and space for future business expansion. Cloud computing technology provides virtual redundancy, with virtual redundancy instead of hardware redundancy, the adoption of less reliable but more efficient systems or topologies may become "logical", such as modular UPS systems and various types of battery-free flywheel UPS systems.

The outsourcing trend of computer services will reduce electricity demand for household and corporate computer protection. As a result, customers may prefer to choose small, power-protection solutions specifically designed to protect their hardware, such as power conditioners and standby or line-interactive UPS solutions.

Large enterprises with larger internal data centers may choose to deploy as many cloud computing applications internally as possible, based on cost, security, privacy, and other considerations. Other applications and virtual redundancy facilities, even if deployed within the enterprise, will require more processing capacity and more UPS power.

As noted in the Forrester study mentioned above, the primary impact of cloud computing services will be evident in the SME market, where, depending on the industry or enterprise type, they typically deploy a hybrid infrastructure that includes local computers and outsourced cloud computing services.

For example, the North Carolina State Surrey County North Hospital has dramatically reduced backup storage requirements by adopting cloud computing applications, but it still needs to deploy UPS backup power internally to support all the necessary equipment, health and life protection equipment, monitoring instruments, laboratory equipment, and other critical facilities for the personal use of computers and operating rooms.

In other industries, enterprises also need to use UPS power to support the computers that employees operate and other power requirements, such as manufacturing and industrial enterprises need to power their production and process control equipment, and service companies need local computers with fast access capabilities, Stores and sales centers, etc., need to install alarm devices and security cameras, which are inseparable from UPS power support.

Based on the above discussion and other requirements, for example, information Security and privacy assurance, compliance requirements, disaster recovery and business continuity requirements, most enterprises will adopt a hybrid solution, that is, the company to process and store key information, the cloud computing hosting and application services outsourced to third parties.

Cloud computing technology will also have an impact on UPS manufacturers and suppliers and service providers, and they should develop appropriate business and marketing strategies to cater for changes in customer behavior and preferences under cloud computing. They must also have a deeper understanding of virtual backup technology, preferably with cloud computing service providers to provide the most effective way to protect customer information.