1 | 2009 Eaton Power Quality Customer Newsletter
Building Eaton brand Page 4
Uninterruptible power for BMW Sauber’s supercomputer Page 6
Global Switch chooses Eaton for its Paris data centre Page 9
Eaton Corporation Eaton Corporation is a diversified power management company with 2008 sales of $15.4 billion. Eaton is a global technology leader in electrical components and systems for power quality, distribution and control; hydraulics components, systems and services for industrial and mobile equipment; aerospace fuel, hydraulics and pneumatic systems for commercial and military use; and truck and automotive drivetrain and powertrain systems for performance, fuel economy and safety. Eaton has approximately 75,000 employees and sells products to customers in more than 150 countries. For more information, visit www.eaton.com. Eaton’s electrical business is a global leader in power distribution, power quality, control and industrial automation products and services. Eaton’s global electrical product lines, including Cutler-Hammer®, Moeller®, Powerware®, Holec®, MEM®, Santak®, and MGE Office Protection Systems™ provide customer-driven PowerChain Management® solutions to serve the power system needs of the data center, industrial, institutional, government, utility, commercial, residential, and OEM markets worldwide.
Belgium Eaton Manufacturing LP Belgium Tel. +32-2-348 44 10 Belgium-info@eaton.com
Norway Eaton Power Quality Norge Tel: +47 23 03 65 50 salesnorway@eaton.com
Tel. +32-15-44.55.00 UPSmuizenBE@eaton.com
North Africa & French Dom-Tom Tel: + 212 22 95 77 40 KassemBenhaddou@Eaton.com
Electronic version of the newsletter is available at www.eaton.com/powerware
Poland Eaton Power Quality SA Oddzial w Polsce Tel. +48 22 331 85 24 upssalespoland@eaton.com
Eaton Power Quality Customer Newsletter
Czech Republic Eaton Electric s.r.o Tel. +420 234 769 500 UPSinfoczech@eaton.com Denmark Eaton Power Quality Denmark Tel. +45 368 67 910 UPSSalesdenmark@eaton.com Finland Eaton Power Quality Oy Tel.+358 9 452 661 PowerwareMyynti@eaton.com France Eaton Power Solutions Tel. +33 1 60 12 74 00 powerwarefrance@eaton.com Germany Eaton Power Quality GmbH Tel. +49 7841 604 0 infogermany@eaton.com Italy Eaton Manufacturing LP Tel. +39 02 955 42 309 MarketingEmlp@eaton.com Middle East, East Africa & Central Asia Tel. +971 4 881 1933 MiddleEast@Eaton.com The Netherlands Eaton Manufacturing LP Netherlands Tel.+31 (0) 78 652 16 80 netherlands-info@eaton.com
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Portugal Eaton Manufacturing LP Portugal Tel. + 351 21 421 74 30 ritalourenco@eaton.com Russia Eaton Power Quality Oy Moscow branch Tel. +7 495 981 37 70 UPSRussia@eaton.com Slovakia Eaton Electric Solutions s.r.o. Tel. +421 244 637 046 UPSinfoSlovakia@eaton.com Spain Eaton Power Quality S.L. Tel. +34 902 104 220 info.es@eaton.com
Published by
Eaton EMEA Eaton Power Quality Oy Koskelontie 13, 02920 Espoo, Finland Tel. +358 9 452 66 1 Fax +358 9 452 66 396 www.eaton.com/powerware Editor-in-chief
Anita Putkinen anitaputkinen@eaton.com Managing editor
Elisa Ylinen elisa.ylinen@conexio.fi Editorial
Sub-Saharan Africa Tel. +225 212 415 12 AboubacarFofana@Eaton.com
PR Agency Conexio
Sweden Eaton Power Quality AB Tel. +46 8 598 940 00 infosweden@eaton.com
KPL Graphics kari.lehkonen@kpl.fi
UK Eaton Power Quality Ltd Tel. +44 (0) 1753 608 700 acukpowerware@eaton.com
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ISSN 1795-9314
Editorial
New challenges, better solutions In spite of today’s turbulent economic climate, some things do not change: Eaton® will always aim to offer ever-better products and services to its customers. Our ongoing brand strategy transition, whereby all company brands are being united under one strong Eaton brand, supports this aim by making it easier for customers to recognise our trusted name. The Eaton brand now also encompasses a wider product and service range than ever before – globally. Our strive for excellence has also been recognised by external evaluators: Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting firm, has awarded Eaton the title of 2008 Company of the Year in Europe in the Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) Market. The award is presented annually to a company that has demonstrated unparalleled excellence within its industry and exhibited outstanding management and consistent growth. The recipient company also has to offer high quality products and/or services and have a positive social and economic impact on local and national communities. Eaton was presented with the award because of the company’s combination of customer-driven initiatives, product-line innovations, acquisitions and geographic expansion. We are grateful for this recognition and eager to continue on the same track in the future. At this time of increasing economic uncertainty, we want to continue to offer our customers products and solutions that help secure critical business assets at a time when no company can afford to lose business due to power disturbances. Securing critical assets gives our customers the confidence to face future challenges and tackle them as a winner. From everybody at Eaton, we wish you a very successful 2009! Anita Putkinen Editor-in-Chief
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Building Eaton’s Power Quality business has revised its brand strategy in order to provide an all-inclusive power quality product portfolio under one brand – Eaton. From now on, Powerware and MGE Office Protection Systems branded products will fall under the Eaton brand.
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uch has changed within Eaton’s Power Quality business over the last year, including the integration of the MGE Office Protection Systems brand. Last summer, Eaton Corporation launched a global effort throughout its different businesses to strengthen knowledge of Eaton as a worldwide technology leader. To support this global initiative and further Eaton’s commitment to providing its customers and partners with the best power quality solutions, the company established a brand transition strategy for its Power Quality business. “The main objective of the brand transition strategy is to build a single Eaton brand that is stronger than the sum of its parts at meeting the needs of Eaton’s customers and partners,” summarises Mathieu Verley, Marketing Communications Manager of Eaton’s Power Quality division in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “With the recent acquisitions of MGE Office Protection Systems and Phoenixtec®, we have become the clear number two provider of power protection, distribution and management solutions worldwide – number one in many countries. Despite this, we are not fully recognised as Eaton in all of our markets. Some of our partners and customers still refer to us under the Powerware or MGE Office Protection Systems brands. Now is the time to build awareness around one single brand – Eaton,” Verley emphasises.
LOCAL PRESENCE, GLOBAL RESOURCES The single-brand strategy embodies Eaton’s brand promise: to make what is important work in ways that deliver value for everyone – customers, employees and shareholders. “By focusing on understanding the ‘big picture’ challenges of our customers and other stakeholders, we can deliver innovative solutions that help them achieve their true objectives,” Verley outlines. “As we combine our acquisitions under a single Eaton brand, we can offer our partners and customers an extensive range of power quality solutions and services that provide the best possible answers to their specific needs.” During the last few years, Eaton has strengthened its local presence around the
world considerably. The strong position is due in part to the integration of the acquired companies’ local sales forces as well as massive partner network expansion. “Combining local presence with the resources of a global brand allows us to provide partners and end customers with all the local support they require,” he points out.
ONE BRAND, TWO PRODUCT SERIES The new brand strategy is aimed at creating one consistent product portfolio under the main Eaton brand that is further divided into product series. “The former Powerware and MGE Office Protection Systems brands are currently transitioning to become the Powerware and Pulsar series under the Eaton brand. This change allows us to link legacy brands to the Eaton brand, thereby establishing a stronger Eaton identity,” Verley describes.
SYNERGY BRINGS ADDED VALUE According to Verley, the new brand strategy provides Power Quality partners and customers with a whole host of benefits. “As we move to Eaton, our stakeholders will gain more benefits with the Pulsar and Powerware series than with the same offer in the past. By incorporating the expertise in advanced technology and know-how of some of the market’s most respected players, we are able to deliver a comprehensive product selection. In the future, we will integrate our different industry-leading technologies into all of our new products to provide customers with the most efficient solutions and services available.” This single-brand strategy helps communicate a consistent brand image among employees as well. “Internally, we benefit from simplified brand management and reduced operational complexity, as well as increased leverage of all marketing activities to build one name, improve visibility and increase competitiveness. We are all now Eaton, sharing the same values and benefiting from the diversity of our team’s history. I am confident our customers will see the benefits of these improvements as well,” says Verley.
”Powerware and MGE Office Protection Systems brands become the Powerware and Pulsar series under the Eaton brand.”
SMOOTH TRANSITION THROUGH TARGETED COMMUNICATION The first phase of implementing the new brand strategy took place at the end of last year, when Eaton started introducing its brand through a series of advertisements and marketing materials, explaining what Eaton is and where the company comes from. The second phase, taking place in early 2009, is focused on communicating the brand transition to all of Eaton’s partners and customers. “We wanted to ensure a smooth brand transition at all levels. We have minimised the changes for our stakeholders’ businesses and have communicated our strategy extensively to ensure everyone is thoroughly informed about the change. One example of this is the decision to keep the same part numbers and references for all of our existing products in order to avoid confusion,” Verley points out. Because an important part of Eaton’s Power Quality business is done through channel partners, targeted communications were created for different partners, explaining all about the brand transition – what will happen and when, what will remain the same or change, and how the partners could contribute to the transition. Eaton is also conducting increased sales and support programmes to assist its partners in their business efforts. “Our activities in strengthening the distribution network was one of the main reasons why we were recognised as the 2008 European UPS Company of the Year by Frost & Sullivan,” Verley concludes. 5
Success story
Uninterruptible power for BMW Sauber’s supercomputer It’s the final lap of the Canadian Grand Prix, and BMW Sauber is winning with both cars in the lead. By narrowly edging out their competitor David Coulthard, drivers Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld achieved an historic one-two finish for BMW Sauber. In Formula 1 racing, fractions of a second often make the difference between victory and defeat. The aerodynamic characteristics of the cars thus become a key factor. That is why BMW Sauber has a specialist on its development team – Albert 3.
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lbert 3 is a supercomputer – the largest and fastest in Europe and the third fastest industrialuse computer in the world. This 38-ton giant processes complex aerodynamic models for vehicle development. His calculations are critically important for the success of the team – so they need to be able to depend on Albert at all times. With Albert 3 playing such a critical role, system downtime is simply unacceptable. Current and voltage irregularities can’t bother Albert 3 since he is protected by an uninterruptible power supply. And that is no easy task – the team has very high expectations of the UPS. The search for a cuttingedge system with the best fault tolerance available and a small footprint led the BMW Sauber F1 team straight to the Eaton 9395.
PROTECTION FOR A MISSION-CRITICAL TOOL Competing since 2006, BMW Sauber quickly made a lasting impression. But the two drivers don’t command all the glory – the credit goes to the entire team for maintaining a consistent level of perfection. And that applies to Albert 3, too. The supercomputer has been supporting BMW Sauber since December of 2006 at the team’s production facility in the Swiss town of Hin-
wil. The 450 employees are constantly improving the cars, with 80 people working on aerodynamics alone. The process of testing, modifying and testing again continues well into the race season. The team needs at least eight hours after a race to disassemble a car, check and replace individual components, and rebuild it. Albert 3 performs calculations including grid models containing over 100 million cells to design everything from front, rear and side wings through to engine and brake cooling systems. The key concept here is CFD, or computational fluid dynamics, which are computer-aided flow simulations. The models allow the developer team to test the impact of changes in the design on performance virtually before performing time-consuming and expensive modifications to the actual car.
SEARCHING FOR A POWERFUL YET ENERGY-EFFICIENT SYSTEM The UPS is certainly a critical part of the BMW Sauber developer team. If Albert 3 is the brains behind BMW Sauber development, then the UPS is the heart: It ensures that the
brain is continually supplied with blood, in this case clean electricity. And that’s not an easy job: Albert 3 has 4,224 processor cores and 8,448 gigabytes of RAM. His maximum performance is 50.7 teraflops, or over 12 trillion floating point operations per second. This massive computational power is housed in an equally massive construction. Over three stories high, Albert 3 weighs in at 38 tons and resides in the basement of the wind tunnel building at the Hinwil facility. In mid-2007, Albert 3’s performance was quadrupled, doubling his power requirements to 350 kW; the UPS needed to grow to meet these demands. What Albert 3 needed was a system with state-of-the-art technology that could reliably provide this level of performance. The team also wanted a system with excellent energy efficiency and exceptional fault tolerance, all within the smallest footprint possible – not an easy combination to achieve. But BMW Sauber found the ideal solution: the 9395, with its modular, energy-efficient construction and redundant operation fulfilled all the team’s requirements.
NO MORE CONCERNS ABOUT DOWNTIME The 9395’s standout feature is its modular, load-balancing system design that utilises scalable power modules. This approach ma-
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Success story
Ensuring reliable power for a leading South African bank kes an energy-efficient and redundant system possible. Two modules rated at 225 kVA ensure the UPS is always ready. Additional protection is provided by a third redundant module with an additional 225 kVA, allowing the UPS to achieve 99.99 percent availability. The 9395’s double-conversion technology fully protects Albert 3 from all power cuts and voltage irregularities without interruption. Using active input power factor correction, the 9395 is able to achieve an input power factor of 0.99. This means the UPS represents an almost completely active power load consuming only minimal reactive power. With a power factor output of 0.9, the 9395 is ideally suited to the supercomputer’s input power factor. This means hardly any energy is lost on reactive power during power transmission. The UPS attains an overall efficiency of 94.5 percent, resulting in considerably lower power loss and heat dissipation. The BMW Sauber F1 team’s experience so far has been very good – the system is running smoothly, and the team no longer has to worry about downtime. With backup power at the ready, the team was able to run the 2008 season with full confidence in Albert 3. The early season one-two finish in Canada is proof that the team – with Albert 3 and the 9395 at its heart – is working like a well-oiled machine.
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Power failures are simply not an option in banking. The compact size and WAN monitoring features of Eaton’s UPS systems led Nedbank to choose Eaton’s partner Meissner to ensure power quality for the bank’s businesscritical systems. eissner Power Systems, Eaton’s distributor in the Republic of South Africa, received last year a substantial order to supply backup power systems to a leading South African bank, Nedbank, for its branches countrywide. Nedbank identified the risk of continued power failures as a threat to its business model that not only inconvenienced customers and severely hampered service delivery but also had a negative impact on the bank’s IT infrastructure. During the early part of 2008, the bank decided to install backup power systems for its premier banking halls, where high client volumes are experienced. The backup power systems support three different banking applications: smaller bank kiosks in large retail locations (such as supermarkets), banking halls in Nedbank branches countrywide and 10 of Nedbank’s Private Banking Centres, where highprofile clients cannot afford to have power interruptions compromise their critical financial transactions. Meissner supplied a mix of 10, 15, 20 and 30 kVA Eaton 9355 UPSs for the three-phase applications along with Eaton 9120 and 9155 units for the appropriate single-phase sites. The bank chose Eaton UPSs primarily for their compact footprint which incorporates the batteries within the unit. The ability for Nedbank to monitor the UPS systems over its IT network was another significant reason for selecting Eaton. This allows Nedbank to both maximise system performance and be proactive in terms of maintenance. Graham Beyleveld, Meissner’s Sales Director, says that the company’s relationship with Nedbank goes back many years. “Meissner has a solid track record and has been a trusted UPS supplier to Nedbank for over 20 years.” With branches countrywide, Meissner offers the best service footprint for reliable after-sales service and support for Nedbank’s 403 sites.
Global Switch chooses Eaton for its Paris data centre France’s leading IT hosting company has established one of France’s biggest operational data centres with the help of Eaton’s power management expertise and technology.
ritish company Global Switch owns and operates IT hosting centres in Europe, Singapore and Australia. Established in 1998, the company provides data storage solutions globally. In France Global Switch serves several major CAC 40-listed companies. These companies require high-quality data storage centres with optimum resilience, security and flexibility. At Clichy-Levallois, in the Paris suburbs, Global Switch has established one of the biggest operational data centres in France. And to guarantee power supply for the centre, Global Switch has installed Eaton threephase UPS systems. Eaton delivered the last of the UPS units in February 2008.
TESTING OF MISSION-CRITICAL EQUIPMENT “We wanted to harmonise our installations and create a consistent management process,” recalls Tim Bailey, Managing Director of Global Switch France. “We offer our clients a high-security building with a clean, ultra-secure system. For example, our electrical systems have an N+1 rated architecture for mission-critical services. And we needed a testing system for our equipment that would meet the most stringent requirements. This was a pivotal factor in the choice of UPS solution, since UPS systems are vital to the quality of our installations.”
A SINGLE UPS SUPPLIER Global Switch and its clients had been operating UPS systems provided by a variety of suppliers on the Clichy site since 1999, when the “Global Switch Paris 1” centre was originally designed. In 2005, of the 16,000m2 of floor space available, only 6,000m2 had been developed – the remaining 10,000m2 was still available for rental. After the company decided to target CAC 40 companies – the 40 biggest companies listed on the French stock exchange – and system integrators, demand for its solutions took off. To meet its requirements, Global Switch began the search for UPS solutions to cover its entire Paris data centre.
FLEXIBLE, HIGH-QUALITY SYSTEMS AND SERVICE Global Switch had previously purchased Eaton´s Powerware units, most recently for its data centre facility in Singapore. “For the Paris site, the company opted for 400 kVA UPS systems with 1200 kVA centralised bypass, equivalent to more than 12 MVA backup power capability,” explains Franck Moquadam, Sales Manager in charge of the Global Switch project at Eaton. “The flexibility of our systems and the high-performance technology, with a power factor of 0.9, coupled with the service quality, were all determining factors.”
Global Switch agreed a Premium Care overall service contract for the equipment. “What really made us go for Eaton was the quality of the offer as well as their high-quality engineering, testing laboratory and aftersales service,” Bailey adds.
A QUESTION OF TEAMWORK Tim Bailey continues: “In 24 months, from the end of 2005 to the end of 2007, we fitted out the remaining 10,000m2 of available floor space. Today, the Clichy data centre is filled to capacity. We are very happy, and our loyal clients readily acknowledge the quality of our installations. Indeed, some of them are ready to follow us to our second operational building in Paris, scheduled to open in 2010.” Furthermore, Global Switch professionals participated in setting up an Eaton supervision tool, Powervision, in October 2008. One of the key features of this tool is that it allows maintenance teams to monitor all UPS units from a single platform and display event logs and a real-time value analysis. “This adventure was a real challenge, and success was possible only through the excellent teamwork and close collaboration between the participating personnel on both sides. We are proud to have been able to meet the stringent installation quality and faultless service requirements that Global Switch so rightly demands,” Franck Moquadam concludes. 9
New products
Eaton 9395 brings sustainability to higher power ranges
The Eaton 9395 UPS product family in EMEA markets welcomed a new member in January – the new 825 kVA model. The addition of this new power rating extends the innovative capabilities of the 225–550 kVA systems to even more powerful UPS systems. This new UPS helps to protect business-critical processes in a wide range of sectors, including data centres, telecoms, finance and manufacturing as well as research and medical facilities – in fact, anywhere where data processing, storage and power protection are vital. The 9395 is an exceptionally reliable way to protect and secure critical business assets. The system’s two integrated uninterruptible power modules (UPMs) ensure continuous power supply to the device even in the unlikely event of one of the modules failing. “This inherent redundancy technology ensures that a fault in the UPS does not interrupt operation; instead, operation simply transfers to the other module. This gives the Eaton 9395 a significant reliability benefit over competitive UPSs,” explains Jari Nieminen, Product Manager at Eaton. As with all other 9-series Eaton UPS systems, the 9395 protects connected equipment against all of the nine most common problems: power failure, power sag, power surge, undervoltage, overvoltage, switching transients, line noise, frequency variation and harmonic distortion.
SUSTAINABILITY = COST SAVINGS
Make a sustainable choice Choose the Eaton 9395 and win a green prize at www.powerware.com/emea/9395Campaign
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Eaton’s UPS systems are scalable thanks to Eaton’s patented Hot Sync® technology, so it is easy to adapt an Eaton system to changing power requirements. “Data centre growth can be unpredictable,” Nieminen points out. “The 9395 is designed to be upgradable so that by adding additional modules, the device can deliver N+1 redundancy or provide extra capacity. This can lead to considerable cost savings.” As well as increasing UPS reliability and adaptability, the 9395 is also a major development in terms of delivering more sustainable UPS applications for Eaton’s customers. New technology increases UPS efficiency to an impressive 94.5 percent, thereby improving energy efficiency and reducing cooling costs.
The 9395 is less than half the size of its competitors, and it weights 60 percent less – this means lower freight costs and a smaller footprint. “The 9395 is a great example of how product sustainability and customer benefits go hand-in-hand,” Nieminen says. “In simple terms, the sustainable features of the 9395 save our customers money.”
HIGH-QUALITY PERFORMANCE AND USABILITY
Eaton’s new-generation Protection Station 650 and 800 provide eco-efficient, all-in-one power protection
The 9395 uses Eaton’s advanced IGBT rectifier, which guarantees a high input power factor of 0.99. In practice, the UPS removes the disturbances in mains power caused by energy conversion. Furthermore, the IGBT rectifier removes the need for separate harmonics filters by minimising the total input harmonic current distortion (THD) to less than 4.5 percent. The 0.9 output power factor makes the 9395 the best performing UPS on the market and provides 13 percent
The Eaton Protection Station is ideal for protecting home computers and digital leisure equipment against power-related breakdowns and current fluctuations. The EcoControl function of new 650 and 800 versions delivers up to 30 percent power savings compared to previous-generation devices. Additional
more power than traditional UPSs with 0.8 power factor. The 9395’s excellent power performance and reliability is achieved by prolonging the battery life of the UPS. Battery life is significantly improved compared to other charging methods thanks to Eaton’s ABM® technology. ABM is based on three-stage charging system that allows the batteries to rest between charging cycles. The 9395’s wide range of connection options also make it easy to manage. The Eaton 9395 1100 kVA will be available in June 2009.
The 650 and 800 have an innovative, feature-packed design: eight standard socket outlets, high-performance lightning arrester, four sockets with battery backup (up to 30 minutes) and surge protection. The line protection function covers an internet, DSL or telephone line. The 650 is suitable for protecting a family PC with an internet connection and peripherals or for those who want to protect a PC and multiple digital devices with one easy-to-use piece of equipment. The 800 is ideal for professional and office use, and for those with demanding power requirements. The EcoControl function automatically disables peripherals when the master device is turned off, resulting in substantial energy savings. The 650 and 800 have one master outlet for a desktop PC or TV/HDTV and two EcoControl outlets for non-critical peripherals. The EcoControl’s activation and threshold settings are easily adjustable using the management software included – simply connect the device to a Windows-, Mac- or Linux-based PC via the USB port. The Protection Station is designed to be easy to use. The integrated handle makes it easy to carry around and allows easy access to the connection ports, and the battery is easy to replace. There is also a user-accessible circuit breaker reset. The Protection Station also includes a periodic test and battery replacement indicator as well as an unlimited value warranty for the connected equipment in case of power fluctuation damage. The integrated lightning arrester, with status indicator, complies with IEC Standard 61-643-1. The Eaton Protection Station 650 and 800 will be available in March 2009.
Award Eaton 9395 received the 2008 Frost & Sullivan Product Innovation Award in the North American ThreePhase UPS Market. The 9395 was commended for its reliability, energy efficiency and feature-rich protection that make it the most innovative and trustworthy power protection technology on the market. The Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Innovation is presented each year to the company that has demonstrated excellence in new products and technologies within its industry and shown innovation by launching a broad line of emerging products and technologies.
features such as efficient electrical design, compliance with RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive of EU), and a package and user manual made from recycled materials, make these new-generation devices more environmentally friendly than ever.
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Sustainable by design Green Leaf-certified solution:
The Eaton Green Leaf certificate
the Eaton 9395 UPS
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The Eaton 9395 UPS earns its Green Leaf certification through its superb energy efficiency and a 50–70 percent weight reduction compared to competing products. The 9395’s manufacturing process also requires 80 percent less energy and has lower energy requirements for testing than previous models. The 9395 deploys a more efficient double-conversion system than legacy products: While legacy products continuously execute a double-conversion power, the new 9395 uses an ‘energy saver’ mode with up to 99 percent efficiency, where the UPS adapts itself to the power load. This saves a substantial amount of energy and translates into less heat and reduced heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) requirements.
ustainability is a fundamental feature of Eaton’s products, which incorporate leading-edge technology to help customers utilise energy more efficiently. However, there are also products and solutions which go well beyond normal environmental standards and provide exceptional benefits. These products and solutions are granted Eaton’s Green Leaf certificate, which demonstrates that their outstanding eco-friendliness is credible and has been substantiated. A Green Leaf-certified product is one that has inherent eco-friendly characteristics, and a Green Leaf solution is a product
Spotlight
Christophe Jammes Eaton’s acquisition of MGE Office Protection Systems has strengthened its position in the retail sector and brings customers new solutions for their power protection needs. Christophe Jammes, who is responsible for single-phase UPS product management in EMEA, tells us more about Eaton’s products for homes and small offices. What kinds of products does Eaton offer for the home and small-office customer? We have a wide range of products, from surge suppressors – such as the Protection
or a product system with environmental benefits that are based on its correct usage. Before being awarded the Green Leaf certificate, products and solutions are thoroughly evaluated by Eaton’s review panel in order to identify overall environmental impact throughout the product’s or solution’s lifetime. The application and related documentation are carefully reviewed and their consistency, validity and compliance with federal and international guidelines assured. For more information on Eaton’s Green Leaf certificate, visit: www.eaton.com/greensolutions
Strip and Protection Box ranges – to UPS systems, including the Protection Station, Ellipse and Eaton 5110 products. Surge suppressors protect delicate equipment by filtering the power supply to protect against surges, interference and the indirect effects of lightning; they are usually considered to be the first level of protection. For more demanding needs, a UPS adds backup time and power management capabilities. Why do homes and small offices need power protection? First, power supply problems may result in hardware damage. Customers invest lots of money in home digital leisure devices and computers, so it’s important not to leave them unprotected. Besides, we are more and more dependent on the equipment we have at home and in our offices. Imagine what would happen if your home router or modem was damaged and you lost your internet connection! In some countries this might mean losing your telephone line and television signal as well. Another important reason for paying attention to power protection is the valuable data – such as photos and music – we store on our computer hard drives at home. How significant is the single-phase UPS business for Eaton in EMEA? Eaton sells more than half a million protection devices in this market every year.
The market is not only interesting in terms of revenues but it is also important in leveraging brand awareness; people who buy UPS devices for their homes are also the decision makers when it comes to business-related UPS applications. Where can I buy single-phase power protection devices? Surge suppressors and UPSs are available from online retailers, high-street IT shops, wholesalers and so on. These devices are usually cheaper than people think. For example, surge suppressors usually start at around €10 and UPSs at around €70–80, depending on the country. Are these devices easy to use? Yes, very easy. You simply plug them in – they don’t require any configuration. When connected to a PC, the UPS is automatically recognised and it appears as a power source in your Windows system tray. What developments are on the horizon for this business area? 2009 will be the year of green features providing energy savings for homes and small offices. Eaton is about to launch a new generation of single-phase UPSs that will allow up to 30 percent energy savings compared to previous models. I don’t want to give too many details away in this connection – you can read more in this newsletter!