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Lightning - Can You Afford To Ignore It? |
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Today, Computers and computer based equipment are used extensively in virtually every sector of industry and commerce - as well as hospitals, government facilities, laboratories and banking. Whether a company operates a local area network, automated factory equipment, a sophisticated building security system, or even a small telephone exchange, it depends totally on that system to operate efficiently. However, many organisations ignore the single biggest threat to their systems - voltage surges caused by lightning and electrical switching events. Main power supplies and data communications lines are highly susceptible to surge voltages and the result is usually a total systems failure. Apart from the enormous cost involved in replacing damaged equipment, consider other expenses that are difficult to quantify: severe disruption to your operations - data loss, downtime, loss of fax and phone, inconvenience to your staff and your customers. But
the situation
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| Lightning activity near to a building can cause voltage surges (transient overvoltages). These brief but significant increases in voltage on mains power supplies or data communication lines can be conducted into the electronic circuitry of computers and other sensitive electronic equipment. This results in: · Data loss · Loss of fax and phone · System disruption · Physical damage to equipment (either immediate or later through component degradation) · Costly downtime Electrical switching events can cause the same problems although chiefly affecting mains power supply. | |||
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| A conventional lightning protection system will protect only the building structure, not its electronic contents. Equally, uninterruptible power supplies alone cannot protect a computer system against the large voltage surges caused by the secondary effects of lightning. These can be up to 6000 volts (3000 Amps). Indeed, UPSs themselves need protecting from the effects of voltage surges. | |||
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| Recent surveys show that almost a quarter of computer disasters are caused by the secondary effect of lightning. Your premises don't even need to be struck directly; a lightning strike several miles away can still have a devastating effect on your buildings systems. The dangers of voltage surges are so significant that the British Standard BS 6651 (Protection of Structures Against Lightning) has been reissued specifically to include guidance on the protection of computers and other electronic systems against the secondary effects of lightning | |||
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SO, WHAT IS THE ANSWER? |
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| The only effective way to guard against this problem is by installing transient surge protection on all power and data communication lines entering or leaving a building. Protectis supplied products provide total protection for electronic systems against lightning induced voltage surges. · Surge Reduction Filters for mains power · Transients Safety Barriers for data lines · Local Area Network protectors · Telephone exchange protectors | |||
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Talk to the experts. Protectis has over 100 years experience in providing customers with lightning protection systems tailor-made to their needs - protection for both the building structure and its electronic contents. Protectis supplied products provide total protection for electronic systems against lightning induced voltage surges.
Surge Reduction Filters for mains power The Protectis service consists of: Initial
consultancy and advice |
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