Power protection for more than 1,000 Portuguese schools

Eaton and PahlData deliver more than 5,000 Eaton Evolution UPSs to Portugal’s public schools as part of a technological modernisation plan.

A few years ago, the Government of Portugal established a Technological Education Plan, the main objective of which is to make Portugal one of the five most advanced European countries regarding the technological modernisation of schools by 2010. The project involves schools from the fifth grade up to the twelfth grade – preparatory, junior high and high schools – and promotes integration of communication and information technologies in both teaching and learning processes as well as in school management.

With this goal in mind, Portugal’s Ministry of Education launched a public contest in January 2008 to select a partner to implement local area networks in the 1,220 public schools covered by the modernisation project. The successful partner needed to be able to supply active components for Ethernet and Wi-Fi networks as well as implement and install a structured cabling system, including wiring, backstage, technical rails and UPSs, among other things. The partner chosen by the ministry was Portugal Telecom, which for its part owed its success to several partner companies – one of which was PahlData in collaboration with Eaton.

Technical and logistical challenges

“Eaton managed to respond exactly to Portugal Telecom’s specifications, which carried strict technical and logistical regulations for UPS systems. One of the added values Eaton brought as a partner in this project was their profound commitment, which was an extremely important contributing factor in the specification of the system installation. Eaton also supplied all the required technical information as well as the test equipment to be installed in pilot schools,” says PahlData’s Commercial Director, Leopoldo Gonçalves.

“In addition to their good price/quality ratio, Eaton was also able to provide UPSs within the tight time schedule proposed for system implementation. Logistically, the challenge was to provide all equipment within three months, which they successfully achieved.”

More than 5,000 Eaton Evolution UPSs will be installed in the schools around Portugal.

PahlData and Eaton chose to supply a mix of Eaton Evolution 1150 VA, Eaton Evolution S 1750 VA and Eaton Evolution 2000 VA devices, as they offer the perfect solution for protecting schools’ network devices, rack-optimised servers, storage systems and internetworking equipment. With their line-interactive technology and range of mounting options, Eaton Evolution UPSs provide the maximum availability and flexibility required by the schools. The individually controlled output sockets enable load-shedding to maximise the backup time, and the UPSs also enable remote reboot and sequential start-up.

Last year over a tenth of the 1,220 public schools were already power-protected. The project will be completed during 2009. Eventually, more than 5,000 UPSs will be installed in the schools around Portugal, protecting the Ethernet and Wi-Fi networks, as well as other electrical equipment, from damaging and costly power disruptions.