Centrelink replaces backup batteries

in brief Welfare agency Centrelink has revealed plans to replace hundreds of ageing Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) units that provide emergency back-up power for computers scattered all around the nation.

Centrelink's 400 sites as well as the Department of Human Services, the Child Support Agency, Medicare Australia, Health Services Australia, CRS Australia, and Australian Hearing are set to receive the new backup units in the next year, according to tender documents Centrelink recently released, calling for a new UPS supplier.

UPS units provide battery power to servers in the event of an outage to allow them to be shut down in a controlled manner.

Centrelink currently has 429 UPS units installed at its various locations, and typically replaces a third of them each year, however, since no new UPS units have been bought in the last year it plans to replace roughly 75 per cent of them in the first year of the tender.

Some of the UPS units will be slated for three new computing facilities that are scheduled to be built for the Department of Human Services next year.