Shares of uninterruptible power supply manufacturers were spooked at the end of last week when word got around that Hewlett-Packard Co was about to enter the business, and the company has now confirmed the worst fears by announcing its entry and including proactive power protection with integrated network management. The supplies are designed to offer reliable, manageable and flexible power protection even during disasters or disturbances that cause fluctuations in power, including surges, power cuts or what Americans call brown-outs, when the supply voltage falls below its rated tolerance. With the Hewlett-Packard devices, constant line conditioning provides a server with clean sinewave output that is isolated from any line disturbances, and multiple power levels and add-on battery packs for extended run-times enable the network manager to customise the supply to the network’s needs. The standard back-up run time is 10 minutes at full load. The supplies are available in 1000VA and 2100VA configurations and the power-management software works with HP-UX, NetWare, Windows NT, OS/2, Santa Cruz Unix, Solaris and UnixWare. The 1000VA model is the HP C4275A and costs $1,100 plus $100 for the power management software, with an optional Simple Network Management Protocol board at $500; they are available November 1. The 2100VA model, the HP C4276A, is $1,800, and it is to be available early this winter.