The growth of SMBs and SOHO segment has led to their business requirements evolving and thus resulting in need for IT and power conditioning solutions.

The mushrooming of the SMB and SOHO segments, and the expansion of the IT/ ITeS industry in Tier II and Tier III cities have given a boost to the market for UPS solutions. With the country facing constant power shortages, power management is a must have for any business regardless of its size or location. The fluctuating supply in various parts of the country has given rise to a dire need for power back-up. Hence, applying energy efficient methodologies and utilizing power saving equipment is vital.

On the growth drivers of the Indian UPS market

Some of the key factors that drive the growth of market for UPS solutions in India are:

• Increased awareness for quality of power boosted the demand for UPS systems. UPS provides protection against voltage fluctuations and low voltage.
• Increased penetration in B, C, and D class cities has been another reason for the category growth

On the market and technology trends in the UPS market

• Space Savings: UPS solutions are being designed to incorporate higher wattage per cubic inch since real estate costs are escalating.
• High Efficiency: leading to lower electricity bills.
• Rack mountable solutions are becoming the norm with increasing move toward rack mountable form-factor for IT environments. This is driven by the need to manage IT environment in more compact space.
• Increase in capability to back up equipment during prolonged power cuts. UPS are now coming with larger chargers, external chargers, and capability to manage, diagnose, and optimize large banks of batteries.
• Serviceability of solutions is also a concern, so modular UPS systems are decreasing the mean time to recover (MMTR) as availability and uptime are critical to business continuity.

On the impact of the slowdown on the market

The global meltdown and corresponding tightening of budgets have forced companies to cut down on their expenditure in any way they can. The power and cooling systems in a typical 100kW data center have a capital cost in the order of USD 500,000 (Rs. 240 crore) or USD 5 (Rs. 240) per Watt. Our past analysis indicates that 70 percent or USD 350,000 (Rs.168 crore) of this investment is wasted. In the early years, this waste was even greater. When the time-cost of money is figured in, the typical loss due to oversizing nearly equals 100 percent of the entire capital cost of the data center! That is, the interest alone on the original capital is almost capable of paying for the actual capital requirement.

On key demand verticals

SMBs and SOHOs have been the largest drivers of growth in the industry. This trend continues. As technology adoption among players in this sector has increased, their needs for backup power have also increased. The growth of SMBs and SOHO segment has led to their business requirements evolving and thus resulting in need for IT and power conditioning solutions.