IT Solutions Blog | Trigon Technology

IT Support | Using Surge Protectors

 

Surge protectors and power strips are great things to have around the office because they enable additional productivity or leisure devices to operate.  There are some important things to note, though, in case you have some of these lying around your office.

1. They are not the same thing!   A surge protector and a power strip are different devices.  You’ll notice that a “power strip” is generally cheaper, and the reason why is because it is literally just a strip of additional outlets.  A surge protector is designed to protect against sudden spikes in the electrical current, so it is important that a surge protector is used when plugging in your computers and sensitive electronic equipment rather than just a power strip.
2. Using surge protectors or power strips does not increase the amount of available power, so using them to connect too many devices or a very power-hungry device could cause some issues that take all of your technology offline
3. Surge protectors are not made to plug into UPS (uninterruptible power supply) batteries, such as what your server and network equipment should be plugged into.  UPS batteries already have their own power conditioning built-in.  If you need additional outlets on your UPS battery, you should consider purchasing an additional battery or checking with the battery manufacturer for a supported power strip that can be connected.

Managed Services Will Save You Money and Spare You Headaches

During these hard times in the United States, businesses are often seeing their budgets shrink, and their allocations for a number of services reduced - including their IT support.  With that, a turn to the money saving approach to IT support, Managed Services, is quickly growing as an alternative option.     

Having a Managed IT Services Provider can help your company get through these rough economic times.  By hiring a MSP, for starters you will no longer have a need for an in-house IT department - and you won't have to pay salaries, benefits, vacation time, sick time, etc.  You'll be paying a fixed fee for a proactive monitoring service that will watch over your computers and network, stopping problems before they are even noticed on your end. Also, it will allow you to bring on consultants on an as-needed basis for projects and tasks that you need completed. 

Managed services are the most cost efficient way to do IT.  With Managed services, you will be able to tap a resource that wasn't available to you before - an entire arsenal of IT related knowledge from a company that deals strictly with information technology.  IT Managed services will also allow you to work with your IT company on IT related issues in the most cost efficient manner available.

For more information regarding managed IT services, and Trigon Technology's PinnacleCare Managed IT program, contact us at 1-888-494-TRIGON or by email at solutions@TrigonIT.com.