[c-nsp] pop site battery backup recommendations

[Mike]

Howdy,

    This isn't exactly cisco-centric, but it's certainly related 
operationally.

    I operate a county wide isp network and I have about 15 different 
pops. I equip each with APC700/1400's and with XR battery packs, with 
the goal being around 8 hours of runtime in the event of a power 
failure. I also aggressively monitor batteries and have situational 
awareness regarding the self test status, maintenance status, and during 
ac power failures whats up and down and how much runtime the pops have 
and so forth.

    Over the last 8 years I have been doing this, the single greatest 
source of pop site outages, has been the battery backup units 
themselves. I have experienced multiple repeated failures involving the 
SNMP management cards that have:

    a) went berserk and flooded the network with garbage
    b) issued spurious "turn off ups" commands to the ups
    c) began automated self test cycles that shut off the ups (even when 
self-test is disabled!)
  
    I further have experienced UPSs that for whatever reason, did not 
switchover during an outage, or did not provide sufficient filtering and 
allowing connected (and supposedly protected) devices to get zapped and 
either fry outright or lockup, or vary in their output voltage too much 
during a failure causing lockups/outages due to 'over voltage'. They've 
also failed to restart once AC power came back on, requiring staff to 
drive out and press a button.  I've also had units that religiously run 
their self-tests but then fail during an actual ac power outage. In 
short, I have seen it all.

    To their credit, I have experienced many many cases of ac power 
failure that these units did gaurd against and provide enough runtime 
for either local power company repair response or for our own internal 
response to come install a generator. But the continuing saga of the 
UPSs themselves causing outages, is really beginning to wear on me and I 
am looking for a better and more intelligent solution.

     I think what I need, is an online ups solution as opposed to the 
APC's we have been deploying. My wants are reliable operation, 1000 - 
1500va, expandable battery capacity, simple remote network monitoring, 
and reasonable cost of course (;-). My team is frustrated and is 
threating to design and manufacture our own brand of UPS's if the market 
doesn't have anything that gets it right, but surely there's got to be 
something out there folks can trust and I want to know what it is.

Thanks for your suggestions in advance.

Mike-