With the near constant flow of information as the basis of your business, it’s hard to justify leaving your organization without the support of a reliable battery backup. Blackouts and other electrical failures can wreak havoc on the unprepared, disrupting data collections and security systems. When you deal with confidential data collected from your clients, your company cannot afford a shutdown in electricity. More still, if you work in an industrial setting then power interruptions to safety measures can put your employees in life-threatening situations. To protect your staff and the work that they do, you need a sophisticated Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS).

A UPS acts as a failsafe should your place of business experience an interruption in power. It’s designed to switch on as soon as there is any disruption to the flow of electricity. Should your office, building site, or other location see a dip or spike in power, a reliable UPS will turn on and compensate for any fluctuations. A powerful UPS can support a variety of organizations, regardless of their size and power intake. Hospitals, data collection agencies, telecommunication power centres, military installations, and any number of power-draining locations can rely on a UPS, as these battery backups come in a variety of sizes and strengths to accommodate your business’ particular needs.

The most common use a UPS system will see is for small power outages that occur during large storms in the area. These outages may only last for a few seconds, but without a UPS these seconds can cause mayhem to your systems. The ensuing loss of data and time spent re-booting systems translates in a serious loss in capital for your enterprise. Less frequently it will encounter prolonged interruptions to power, but a reliable UPS is no less qualified to handle such a situation. UPS systems should cover a large span of input voltages (anywhere between +10 and 30%), and they should provide a frequency window of 45 to 56 Hz. This means any size business, regardless of scope in power usage, can expect continuous and regulated power output.

Superior UPS systems will include additional features to further protect your operations. Many will come with automatic bypasses that redirect power when its levels are high enough that they could overload internal inverters. They also run on “hot swappable” batteries so that you can replace its batteries without having to turn off the machines it’s regulating. As a result, your business will save money and time, as you won’t have to shut down and reboot machines after you’ve switched out batteries. But truly remarkable UPS systems will offer more, like the ability to remotely check-in to survey its operations. The battery backup products made by Toshiba offer a web-enabled diagnostic system that allows access to the system anywhere and anytime you have connection to a secure network. In addition to the additional features, Toshiba’s diagnostic systems make it possible to monitor power fluctuations, interruptions, and the UPS’ proper operation.

When costly computer breakdowns are caused by power outages, the need for a reliable and consistent access to power becomes clear. Without one, in the event of an outage, your business will lose valuable, confidential data. As a result, you’ll waste time and money recovering lost data. So turn to an Uninterrupted Power Supply to keep your machines supported through any power fluctuation, and save your business.

Over the past decade or so, countless US and European companies have either outsourced or moved all or part of their manufacturing facilities to places such as China, the Far East, Central and South America and Eastern Europe. There were sound economic reasons for going overseas: wages were low in comparison to the US; there was a huge pool of skilled labor and exceptionally high rates of unemployment; shipping costs were relatively cheap; and governments offered incentives including tax breaks and heavily subsidized purpose-built factories.

Given the competitive nature of world trade in the early years of the century, it is not surprising that so many businesses took advantage of the opportunity to reduce costs, circumvent ever more restrictive employment laws and cut their tax bills. However, since 2010 business owners are starting to see the benefits of bringing manufacturing home.

Though there were major concerns that the country’s manufacturing base was in danger of collapsing completely, you have to remember that even in the dark days of the recession the US remained the world’s largest manufacturing country, producing 18.2% of global goods; China came second with 17.6%. By October 2012, statistics showed that over the previous 18 months half a million new manufacturing jobs had been created in the US, the biggest increase since the 1990s and a sure sign that dramatic changes were underway.

What is behind this change in corporate thinking? The answer is that a number of disparate developments have taken place over the past five years that have changed the global economic landscape. The economies of many developing countries have grown dramatically in this period, leading to populations that are enjoying a higher standard of living, which in turn has led to a hike in the salaries paid. In a single stroke, one of the biggest benefits of moving manufacturing overseas has been significantly eroded.

Manufacturing costs in China are still some 7% below those in the US, but the cost of shipping finished goods has to be taken into account. The cost of diesel fuel, which powers the vast majority of shipping fleets, has risen, and in an ever more unstable world extended supply chains are a constant source of concern.

Also, US-based companies are beginning to recognize the advantages of locating their manufacturing plants close to their design studios and corporate headquarters. Having the ability to respond quickly to a rapidly changing market and increasingly demanding customers is becoming ever more important.

For many decades North America and Europe have led the world in terms of technological developments and innovation. The US is home to the world’s leading centers of learning and produces thousands of graduates every year, many of whom go on to work in aerospace and automotive engineering, where niche companies such as Transducer Techniques are thriving.

By installing advanced software systems and machinery, manufacturing processes have been automated to the point where only a small number of highly skilled operators are required. This has resulted in US manufacturing costs being forecast to fall to one of the lowest in the world over the next year or so.

As the world finally shows signs of economic recovery, the outlook for manufacturing in the US looks brighter than it has for many years.

 

 

 

 

We love technology and when technology can be carried away in our pockets, we love it even more. The last few years have seen an increase people have in gadgets such as smartphones and, together with the rise of the interest in these things, we have also seen how many companies have been battling for their customers. iPhone has been out there ever since the beginning of the smartphone era, but new, emerging competitors are starting to pose a real threat. Amazon’s FirePhone is definitely one of them. Still, which one is actually the best? Read on and find out more.

FirePhone: General Things to Know about It

Amazon has been out there with its ebook readers for quite a long time now and it has also been present on the market with tablets as well. So it should not come as a surprise that they wanted to get into the smartphone market as well. However, most of the people would have expected FirePhone to be cheaper than an iPhone, considering the fact that, for example, a Kindle Fire tablet is less expensive than an iPad. And yet, the surprise came when prices came out as well. FirePhone costs somewhere around $690. BUT it does not come attached to a plan of any sort, so you are free to choose whatever suits you better. As compared, the iPhone 5s does cost around $290, but it comes with a plan from AT&T or from another provider. Other than the plan thing, is it worth it to buy a FirePhone as compared to buying an iPhone?

FirePhone vs. iPhone: Specs

When it comes to the specs, FirePhone would appear to be a stronger asset than iPhone. The display, for example, is much bigger. But at the same time, iPhone’s display is almost finger-proof, is richer in colors and in resolution and it is multi-touch as well.

Also, the camera of the FirePhone comes with 5 megapixels more than the iPhone (12, respectively 8). The processors of the two phones are also very different. FirePhone has a quad-core processor, while iPhone has a dual-core processor. However, that does not mean that this is the only difference between the two of them, as they are judged by different criteria as well.

Last, but not least, FirePhone has a 2 GB RAM memory, while iPhone only has 1 GB. And when it comes to storage memory, the FirePhone comes in two variants – 32 GB and 64 GB, while iPhone adds the 16 GB version to these two.