UPS Systems Keep Customers Pumping

For oil companies, the exploration for reliable information technology (IT) can be as challenging as the search for oil. Houston-based Titanis Corporation specializes in supplying financial software and telephony products to oil, gas and related industries. Titanis provides its customers with software applications, as well as network design to procurement to recruiting. Its data center is staffed 24/7/365—with no room for downtime.

For its telephony solutions, the firm's users rely on a network rather than a traditional telephone line. Internet services, phone connections and voice mail are managed via an integrated system allowing easy access for all users.

"For some of our clients, we operate as an application service provider—meaning that we host telephony solutions or financial, manufacturing and distribution software and systems on our site on behalf of our customers," says Harold Price, president for Titanis. "Our customers just need to dial in and log on. It's virtually invisible to the users that the software isn't at their site."

To protect telephony and server equipment, Titanis has several uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems on site. Some of these units are desktop tower models and others are extended-runtime and rack-mount. Power spikes and surges are common in Houston, where storms can wreak havoc, and sunny days can result in power problems as people turn up their air conditioners.

Also, option cards can be used to add extensive networking capabilities to the systems. Individual load segments can be set up to shift battery backup time to the most important computer devices should a power failure occur. Bundled with power management software, the UPS systems allow customers to perform remote shutdown of applications and other connected equipment.

"With the remote monitoring, the UPS are more than a battery in a box," explains Kevin Cosgrove, IT manager at Titanis. "We can see how much backup time is left, can reconfigure the system, and can have alarms sent to our pagers in case anything goes wrong."

From Pure Power, Spring 2003