Guest Opinion: How To Avoid Lockups, Down Time With POS Systems

By Roger Faridi, VP of operations, Smart Power Systems

Many VARs and their customers believe that when it comes to protecting POS systems from data loss and other damages caused by power problems, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or surge suppressor is all it takes to get the job done. However, this is not the case. For one thing, not all power protection products are created equally. Rather, they offer varying levels of protection and, as such, cannot be considered "total" protection for any POS system. Just as significantly, while surge suppressors stave off hardware damage from lightning events and low-cost UPSs afford surge protection as well as battery backup in the event of power outages, these two events combined — although the most visible — account for only a small percentage of power problems. In fact, according to a recent study by Bell Laboratories, surge suppressors and typical UPS devices are useful in mitigating the effects of less than 4% of all power problems.