Networking
UPS
Also called: Uninterruptible Power Supply, battery backup
A battery-backed power source that keeps equipment running through outages and, just as importantly, filters the sags and surges that shorten hardware life.
A UPS buys two things: ride-through for short outages and clean power always. In South Florida the second matters daily — summer storm season delivers a steady diet of brownouts and switching transients that kill switches, NVRs, and amplifiers over months rather than instantly.
Size a UPS for the load you actually need to survive, and get network-manageable units so runtime, battery health, and self-test results are visible remotely. Batteries degrade silently over three to five years; an unmonitored UPS is a UPS that fails on the day it is needed.
Related terms
- PoE
- Delivery of DC power and data over the same Ethernet cable, so cameras, access points, phones, and displays need no local outlet.
- Rack Unit
- The standard vertical increment of equipment rack space, 1.75 inches per U, used to plan how equipment stacks in a rack.
- Surge Protection
- Devices that clamp voltage transients from lightning, utility switching, and large motor loads before they reach connected equipment.
- RTO / RPO
- Two recovery targets: RTO is how long a system may be down, RPO is how much recent data may be lost. Together they dictate what backup and failover design is required.
More Networking terms
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