Vertiv Edge-1000IMT: a professional UPS at a sensible price
The Vertiv Edge-1000IMT we tested these days is a professional-grade device, designed for “edge” applications, ie IT structures with computing power distributed over peripheral areas and not just concentrated in large servers. This type of application is becoming more and more common with the continuous growth of the number of IoT devices in business realities and the connected increase of “small” decentralized datacenters.
Its 1000W power makes it suitable for heavy loads, but not huge, typical of small clusters of servers or devices of various nature and medium power. The object on which we got our hands is in tower format, but there are models in blade format ready to be inserted in the rack.
Its technical characteristics are interesting. The 0.9 output power factor makes it very efficient and capable of withstanding loads very close to the nominal limit, it has hot swappable batteries, free software (Vertiv Power Assist) that manages loads locally, a usb port, the outputs on the back, in format divided into two groups, one of which is programmable and a port that can accommodate an optional network card.
Appearance and manageability
From a point of aesthetic view, the Vertiv Edge-1000IMT looks unexpectedly refined. After all, there are few situations in which a UPS remains in plain sight, but if this were to happen it would not disfigure. The design of the front is elegant and the liquid crystal display is small but in color and usually shows a pleasant animation indicating the operating status of the device.The mini-monitor also displays the ambient temperature and humidity. Speaking of detecting environmental conditions, the optional ethernet card also supports integration with environmental sensors located in other positions, including motion detectors.
The ethernet card, which we have installed, is self-installing and equipped with functionality advanced that allow a great flexibility of use. There is an interface for the management of programmable sockets capable of reacting to events or to simple timers, while the part dedicated to notifications allows you to send messages both via SMS and via e-mail.
The interface is very efficient, but with a too classic design, with the classic organization in categories and schematic options written in small print. The "online" assistance is scarce with little information on how to make the configurations. In reality, this is a very intuitive management, but in 2020 we could hope for a bit smarter interfaces to simplify routine operations and initial configuration. However, it won't blow any IT Managers off, as we've been using these layouts pretty much forever.
A few measurements
A modern UPS is basically expecting two things: that it can be managed remotely in a simple and effective way and that the electrical part is of good quality. We have seen that the first part has been well done by Vertiv and we pass, therefore, to the second one.Opening the case, you notice a good care in the construction part. I have personally opened UPSs in the (recent) past that would have deserved the creation of a TV series called "UPS from Hell". With this Vertive, however, everything is well organized and full of precautions that show how much care has been taken in the design of each single section, such as the separators between the batteries or the presence of redundant fans.
Times reaction times were measured in a few milliseconds and never created problems for any of the devices we connected, even if completely devoid of their own electrical protection. We have ranged from Chinese IoT devices to fully bodied computers, passing through small Arduino projects and networking equipment.
And since this UPS is referred to as a sine wave, we went to see if that's true, since the wave shape and reliability are important to preserve connected devices and in cheap devices you see "things" that have very little to do with sinusoids. So we started by measuring the output current directly from the electrical outlet.
As you can see, the sinusoid coming out of the wall is good, but strangely flattened at the top. I was surprised to see it like this, but the engineer who supported me in the measure also twisted his nose a bit. We therefore opted to disconnect the power socket and measure how the UPS behaved under load (about 600W).
As you can see, the curve is even better than that measured by the mains and the only burr is a small undulation around the two peaks (which is not seen at this scale, but is present by analyzing the detail of the single wave). The "support" engineer was obviously not up to date on the qualities of modern UPSs and said he was very surprised by the quality of the wave provided.
