We have been using schneider as a UPS solution for our data centers. We have 3 different UPS sets connected to battery banks powering our DCs. Protection against electrical irregularities and maximum up time are the goals for the setup and this has been achieved to perfection.

Pros and Cons

Schneider Electric Smart-UP does good understandable logging and alerts.
The maintenance is user-friendly and has little to no need for call logging most of the time.
The service and support from Schneider Electric Smart-UP is very professional.

I haven't had any bad experiences from Schneider Electric Smart-UP post deployment.
The deployment time can be reduced, There is sometimes lack of proper planning and scoping.

Likelihood to Recommend

This is a very good solution for your UPS and battery needs for a data center electrical solution. The interface is user-friendly and alerts can be understood clearly. The alarms for service and maintenance keep you on the schedule and avoid any downtimes or performance degradations. I am especially impressed with the servicing from APC, we had a battery bank renewal activity recently and it was done very professionally, like clockwork.

Most Important Features

The display that reads the current alerts.
Easy to use interface.
Statistics about uptime, battery time, etc.

Return on Investment

Schneider Electric Smart-UP has been a good addition to the projects I have worked with, This is our go-to UPS solution

Other Software Used

Avocent Data Center Planner, Microsoft Visio, Lucidchart

March 23, 2020

The Smart(UPs) Choice

Brandon Burch

Coordinator of Network and Technical Services

Hudson Falls Central School District (Education Management, 201-500 employees)

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Incentivized

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

In our organization we have many Schneider Electric Smart-UPs devices to ensure power to our data center facilities. The devices have been completely reliable throughout the years. The reporting and notification features have been extremely useful in dealing with random power issues (both due to outside and inside problems). You can also combine these devices with add-on software to combine with Netbotz systems. This gives you an overall picture of your environmental variables (power, temp, dew point, humidity, etc).

Pros and Cons

Notifications are fantastic. In the event of a power outage the email notifications are quick and easy to set up.
The web based GUI is pretty intuitive and easy to use.
The ability to combine these devices with other Schneider (formerly APC) devices is great. We use a number of older Netbotz systems. This makes it very easy to pull reports to give an overall picture. For example: The power went out at 7:00PM. This caused the UPS to kick on. During that time the air conditioning turned off and the server room temperature went up 10 degrees. You can then take this data to those responsible for HVAC and determine best course of action. This is hypothetical of course but you can see the benefit.
Replacing the batteries is extremely easy.

The LCD screen on the models we use is very small and often you need to scroll through many pages to see the full message.
Battery run time is fairly accurate but you really need to keep an eye on it in the event of an emergency. I understand this is typical but it's worth noting.
Not sure if newer models have this but SMS notifications would be great.

Likelihood to Recommend

In emergency situations these devices are crucial. Schneider has been in the business for a long time. Power conditioning and battery backups are not things you trust to devices or companies that are unproven. In 12 years I have not had an issue with the reliability or longevity of these devices.

Return on Investment

They have saved our environment countless times. We have a history of power outages in our area. Some of these have been long-term. There is no doubt that without these devices we would have experienced a serious data loss issue at this point.
I cannot attest to the long-term impact of power conditioning but I can only guess that overtime the ROI has been positive in that regard as well.
Notifications have definitely saved our IT investment by alerting us when our backup generator did not kick on.

Alternatives Considered

We have only used APC/Schneider devices in the past simply because they are the most proven devices of this kind on the market. Like I said previously you cannot trust any unproven device in this kind of emergency scenario. I am not interested in exploring second-tier battery backups.

Support Rating

I have never had to actually call for support on these devices. The engineer that came to do the initial install was incredibly professional and knowledgeable. She was obviously an expert in the field. At one point we decided to replace all the batteries to ensure battery runtime. That was incredibly easy and did not need to call.

Other Software Used

Schneider Electric Symmetra

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