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CyberPower GreenPower PR2200ELCDRT2U review

Dave Mitchell Read more December 10, 2009

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£711

Price when reviewed

Although relatively new to the UK UPS market, CyberPower has already impressed with its Value 1200ELCD-B. The GreenPower PR2200, however, moves the focus to business usage.

This 2200VA UPS can protect multiple servers and their associated networking equipment. It’s a line-interactive device that sits between low cost offline and more expensive online models, and is a good choice in environments where power failures are rare but voltage fluctuations are frequent.

The PR2200 can be rack or floor mounted. A large blue backlit LCD panel keeps you posted on all things power related, which can be rotated to suit. You have eight power outlets with battery backup, with battery protection on six and surge protection only on two.

Its serial or USB ports link up with the PowerPanel Business Edition (PBE) software, which comprises an agent that monitors the UPS and slave utilities for other connected systems. In a prolonged blackout, BPE can force an orderly shutdown of all systems on the UPS.

Setting BPE up is simple and the slaves just need the IP address of the main agent. The management console provides information about the battery, power status and input supply, plus you can view and control all slaves remotely.

BPE can run diagnostics on the UPS and encrypt the links between the agent and slaves. The BPE software is more sophisticated than all the utilities we saw in our last UPS shoot-out.

CyberPower offers an optional SNMP card for £100 that provides a web interface for monitoring the UPS, setting up shutdown schedules and running diagnostics. It isn’t as clever as those offered by APC but it’s half the price.

CyberPower offers a strong alternative to many of the established names in the UPS market. Pricewise, it’s on a par with APC’s Smart-UPS 2200VA rack mount unit and also offers good system shutdown and monitoring software.