Page 23 - Telecom Reseller JanFeb 2014

Telecom Reseller
23
February/March 2014

N
IXON

T
The critical relationship of power and communications

By Duston Nixon, Marketing Commu- range of products are available that can type of UPS will be required is often the served by the most advanced type of UPS:
nications Specialist for Minuteman
ensure fail-safe power to all areas of the question.
True On-line. These systems provide the
system.
For small loads, such as routers, hubs, highest level of protection and power con- F
Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) and handsets, small Standby or Line ditioning by creating an electrical firewall ew areas of technology have expe-
provide protection from spikes, surges, and Interactive UPSs can provide ample back- and are ideal for sensitive devices that are rienced the upturn that telecommu- nications has in the past 2 decades.
other anomalies, as well as backup power up. Additionally they are typically small more susceptible to damage from power Moving from utility sourced power, to cen-
when a blackout occurs. These devices are sized to better fit tight locations.
issues.
trally powered PBX systems, to VoIP sys-
a must-have for any component in the com- Backup for medium sized loads such Along with backing up the power, addi- tems with countless components requiring
munications system that is deemed essen- as multi-port hubs, power over Ethernet tional devices such as power distribution separate power, the need for a reliable on-
tial for business. With the move to VoIP, (POE) supplies, and switches, is generally units (PDUs), and remote power managers site power supply has never been greater.
this now includes every part of the network supplied by tower or rack-mount format (RPMs) can ease installation and make Combine these factors with the fast paced,
including with the phone system and end Line Interactive UPS. These systems can upkeep of the communications system eas- always-on culture of today, and a power
points (e.g. handsets).
range from 500VA to 3000VA and provide ier and more cost-effective.
outage can be catastrophic for a business.
Fortunately, there is good news for both Routers, switches, hubs, access points, adequate capacity and power conditioning Without power, there are no communi-
business owners and the integrators and all will be required to maintain communi- for a wide range of devices.
cations – period. In the case of a business,
resellers who serve them – power protec- cations when an outage occurs. Therefore, Large, facility-wide systems demand this means no sales or customer service. In
tion prices are at all-time lows, and a wide
all must include a UPS of some sort. What
large capacities and flawless power are best
a school, it can mean no communication
in an emergency. In a government office,
it can mean danger for even larger groups of people. Simply put, adequate protection
must be included with every communica-
tions device sold to protect both the cus- Power Protection for Vital Equipment
tomer and your own reputation from critical
damage. ☎

For more visit www.minutemanups.com

UC F
UTURE

The bandwidth creeping

consequence of unified
communications

BTy Melinda Curran, Founder and CEO of RCG
he evolution of telecommunications
technology is one of the greatest
contributors to workplace efficiency,
and this is no more evident than with the
advent of sophisticated, robust unified com-
munications (UC) systems. However, as
businesses’ digital footprints explode in a
culture that increasingly demands instan-
taneous access to data, bandwidth strategy
must enter the conversation or it will surely
threaten productivity and endorsement of
advanced UC technologies.
Bandwidth at a premium
As UC systems matured, its most adopt-
ed applications became inherently data-
driven. Far from the capabilities of simple
PBX lines and basic Web-browsing infra-
structure, nearly all of today’s systems
utilize Internet Protocol (IP) and include
components of video, audio and Web con-
ferencing, interactive white boards and
integrated VoIP telephony, among other
applications. All of these tap into a single
network to harmoniously achieve real-time
collaboration in the office.
It is this real-time and interactive nature
of UC that comes at a cost, making UC
one of the largest contributors to office
bandwidth creep. Data-intensive applica-
tions such as multi-point video conferenc-
ing could require upwards of 16Mbps of
bandwidth alone. For comparison, consider
that a typical small to medium-sized busi-
ness running normal operations without a
UC system can usually function with just 10Mbps of bandwidth.
But the IP drain of UC systems is only
part of growing office bandwidth creep.
The Bring Your Own Device phenomenon
and cloud culture sends a surge of mobile
devices and tablets connected to and utiliz-
ing a single office network, adding to the
bandwidth competition. As this trend con-
tinues and more UC applications are added
to networks and more employees added
to businesses, there is even less availabil-
ity to seamlessly channel data to mission-
critical UC systems. The result is constant

See UC FUTURE, page 28