Keep telephony and data centers powered: whether maintaining or hosting equipment, power glitches should be invisible to system users - Power Management - Houston-based Titanis Corp

Communications News, Oct, 2003

Many Texas-based companies specialize in drilling for natural fuel and manufacturing components for equipment used in the intensive drilling and exploration processes. Sometimes, that leaves the search for IT expertise uncharted. That is when Houston-based Titanis Corp. can fill the void.

Titanis works with small and midsize companies in the oil, gas and related industries to provide them business software and telephony products. The company provides software applications support plus added services, from network design to procurement to recruiting. The Titanis data center--full service with a state-of-the-art technology infrastructure--is staffed 24/7/365, with no room for downtime.

Downtime costs money, so Titanis protects its data center and telephony equipment with uninterruptible power systems (UPS) from HE The UPS protect computer equipment and critical data against damage due to inconsistent and fluctuating power.

Titanis has several tower and rackmount HP UPS on site protecting switch, telephony and server equipment. The desktop tower model, the HP UPS T700, and the extended runtime rackmount HP UPS R1500 XR are enough to protect those critical system components from typical power problems.

Power spikes and surges are common in Houston, where storms can wreak havoc with power lines. Even sunny days can result in power problems, as people reach for air conditioners to get a reprieve from hot and sweltering temperatures--putting a strain on the city's power.

Titanis' customers are about as demanding as the weather. What the company offers are telephony products with global telecommunications capabilities for voice and data. A user makes a telephone call via 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.

"We can give our customers a 100% IP telephony solution," remarks Harold Price, president of Titanis.

Managing the entire data center, from connectivity to monitoring, Titanis provides IT services for its clients with a more cost-effective approach than if those same customers had to source the equipment, related products and know-how for themselves. With this much responsibility, providing the software, as well as the on-line technical support, there is no margin for downtime due to nagging power problems, such as surges, outages or brownouts.

"Our customers don't want to invest in technology nor do they want to manage a large IT staff," says Price. "They want someone else to handle that portion of the business so that they can focus on what they do best finding, drilling and compressing oil, their core competencies.

"In our business, we provide mission-critical services to our customers. Downtime, especially due to power anomalies, is unacceptable, as our customers count on us to have their systems up 24x7," says Price. "That's what we believe in, and it's why we protect our equipment with UPS."

The rack-mountable UPS pack the power Price needs in a tight form factor for improved performance, while saving valuable rack real estate. Extended runtime modules add battery backup time and option cards deliver extensive networking capabilities. Individual load segments can be set to shift battery backup time to the most important computer devices should a power failure occur.

Taking advantage of HP's Power Management Software, Titanis can perform a remote shutdown of applications and connected equipment if required.

"With the remote monitoring, the UPS are more than a battery in a box," explains Price. "Our data center staff can see how much backup time is left, can reconfigure the system and can have alarms sent to their pagers in case anything goes wrong."

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