APC by Schneider Electric (formerly American Power Conversion Corporation) is a manufacturer of uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), electronics peripherals, and data center products. In 2007,

Schneider Electric Schneider Electric SE is a French multinational corporation that specializes in digital automation and energy management. Registered as a Societas Europaea, Schneider Electric is a ''Fortune'' Global 500 company, publicly traded on the Euronex ...

acquired APC and combined it with MGE UPS Systems to form Schneider Electric's Critical Power & Cooling Services Business Unit, which recorded 2007 revenue of US$3.5 billion (EUR 2.4 billion) and employed 12,000 people worldwide. Until February 2007, when it was acquired, it had been a member of the

S&P 500 The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 leading companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices and in ...

list of the largest publicly traded companies in the United States. Schneider Electric, with 113,900 employees and operations in 102 countries, had 2008 annual sales of $26 billion (EUR 18.3 billion). In 2011, APC by Schneider Electric became a product brand only, while the company was rebranded as the IT Business Unit of Schneider Electric.

History

APC was founded in 1981 by three

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

Lincoln Lab The MIT Lincoln Laboratory, located in Lexington, Massachusetts, is a United States Department of Defense federally funded research and development center chartered to apply advanced technology to problems of national security. Research and dev ...

electronic power engineers. Originally, the engineers focused on

solar power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...

research and development. When government funding for their research ended, APC shifted its focus to power protection by introducing its first

UPS UPS most commonly refers to: * Uninterruptible power supply, a device which provides continuous power to electronics * United Parcel Service, an American courier company UPS or ups may also refer to: Companies and organizations United Parcel S ...

in 1984.

Acquisition by Schneider

announced its acquisition of APC on October 30, 2006 and completed it on February 14, 2007. APC shareholders approved the deal on January 16, 2007. The European Union authorized the merger, provided that Schneider divest itself of the MGE UPS SYSTEMS global UPS business below 10kVA. Late in 2007 Eaton Powerware bought the MGE Office Protection Systems division of Schneider.

Product lines

The company focuses its efforts on four application areas: * Home/home office * Business networks * Access provider networks * Data centers and facilities

Symmetra

APC Symmetra LX is a line of

uninterruptible power supply An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or uninterruptible power source is a type of continual power system that provides automated backup electric power to a electrical load, load when the input power source or mains electricity, mains power fai ...

products, aimed at

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

and

server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides requested information for other programs or devices, called clients. Role * Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending custome ...

applications. Symmetras come in power configurations ranging from 4 kVA to 16 kVA. Symmetras are built for use in a data center (in a 19-inch rack for example). They include features such as integrated manageability, hot-swappability, user-replaceable power, and battery and intelligence modules.

Smart-UPS

APC Smart-UPS is a line of smaller units intended for home and office use, available as floor-standing and rackmount versions. With the exception of the Smart-UPS Online series (SURT and SRT models), Smart-UPS units are line-interactive UPS systems, running their outputs off the inverters only when the grid power is unavailable.

PowerChute

PowerChute is a computer program by APC designed to control and manage UPS systems. It facilitates unattended shutdown of servers and workstations during extended power outages and provides monitoring and logging of UPS status. Versions vary to cater to different user needs and environments. PowerChute Business Edition requires servers to be connected via

serial port A serial port is a serial communication Interface (computing), interface through which information transfers in or out sequentially one bit at a time. This is in contrast to a parallel port, which communicates multiple bits simultaneously in Pa ...

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...

to the monitored Smart-UPS equipment. It provides UPS management and safe server shutdown for up to 25 servers. UPS Network Management Cards made by APC enable UPS management by directly connecting the UPS to the network with its own IP address, avoiding dependence or the need for a server, which can be useful in wiring closets where no servers are present. PowerChute Network Shutdown, together with the UPS Network Management Card, enables safe server shutdown by communicating over a network to any network-enabled APC Smart-UPS (those that contain a UPS network management card).

References

External links

*
Schneider Electric

Technical Comparison of On-line vs. Line-interactive UPS Designs
APC White Paper #79, by Jeffrey Samstad and Michael Hoff
APC Smart UPS model ranges/generations (current and legacy) – broad characteristics and comparisons
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