When APC began selling power protection equipment, networking was in its infancy. Most computer users were still transferring data on the 'sneaker net' using 512k floppy disks. As networking began to evolve, users began to use linked PCs to share files and print documents, which gradually increased the importance of the computers and equipment upon which these tasks were transacted. Still, the number of people protecting the hardware and data with UPSs was small.

Initially, the motivation for using APC's products was to protect the hardware itself. As more and more data was passed across networks, their customers began recognizing the importance and value of the data on their servers and PCs; they quickly began protecting this data as well. As the value of data grew exponentially, the importance of protecting the availability of the network reached critical mass. A growing number of customers cannot tolerate any downtime in their networks.

In the last few years, the value of the data being created, transferred and stored has continued to multiply. Not only is the quantity of data increasing, but E-commerce applications are literally transferring, processing and storing money on the servers we protect. As a result, highly reliable solutions like our Power Array technology are being adopted by industry-leading global enterprises to ensure E-commerce delivers on its promise.