$6bn takeover of UPS giant

I'm not sure what this says about the UPS market -- APC was completely dominant at the lower end. Maybe people just don't need UPSs anymore, now that power outages are rarer?

Or maybe it's the other way around? If we're going to have greener IT -- maybe with our own solar or wind generators running our datacentres, we need a UPS to smooth out the natural ups and downs of a sustainable energy source? Could this have made APC the smartest purchase of the 21st century?

Posted by Jonathan Bennett on Oct 31, 2006 12:33 PM

APC always seemed to me to be the most natural company to develop fuel cells - the idea of a UPS that could keep a load going with a secondary cell while kicking in a methanol-powered generator seems potent.

There are three environmental factors in power usage: clean generation, efficient distribution and effective consumption. Every model is more or less effective in these three ways: electric trains are far cleaner than diesel in their immediate environment, but is it more effective to burn a barrel of oil at a power station, turn a turbine, send the electricity through six stages of transformation and distribution, and then turn a motor - or to burn the barrel of oil to turn an engine? How about when you consider the distribution of the oil from the oilfield to the power station - or to the train?

When considering things like that, is local fuel cell generation a sensible alternative? APC - or whoever - might provide a way of integrating that with the larger electrical infrastructure, in such a way that we can wind down the old school system gently.

Posted by Rupert Goodwins on Oct 31, 2006 1:51 PM

In your headline, did you not mean "UPS" for uninterruptable power supply rather than "UPC." Or am I missing something? In North America, one often finds people inadvertently saying/writing UPC, as in Universal Product Code, when they mean to say UPS for United Parcel Service, and vice versa.

George Wright IV, New Canaan, Connecticut USA

Updated by George Wright IV on Nov 15, 2006 12:58 PM

Oops!

Thanks George. You know, I kept having a nagging thought that there was something wrong with that headline. Couldn't see the error, though.

Cheers

G

Posted by Graeme Wearden on Nov 14, 2006 5:33 PM