Vertiv™ Liebert® Lithium-Ion GXT5 UPS Delivers Performance, Reliability, and More
The past two years have been extremely challenging for the healthcare industry, as the pandemic increased demand for emergency services and drove up operating costs. As a result, healthcare organizations have accelerated digitization to enable new services, drive revenues, and operate more efficiently.
During the pandemic, hospitals and clinics have adopted telemedicine services to scale practitioners’ time and provide safer service delivery. They’re also leveraging streaming video at hospitals to enable remote consultations on complex cases. And healthcare organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and payers alike are harnessing big data and artificial intelligence to identify early insights about population needs, align investments accordingly, and improve patient care and outcomes.
Healthcare Organizations Need to Maintain 24/7/365 Availability
These trends will continue, even as pandemic-related demand for services abates. For example, connected devices enable practitioners to remotely monitor patient health, identifying early warning signs and helping individuals comply with treatment regimens. And patients who have valued the convenience of telehealth appointments will not easily give them up to return to offices for routine visits.
As a result, 81 percent of healthcare organizations executives say the pace of digital transformation has accelerated for their organization, and 93 percent say they are now innovating with a true sense of urgency.
One of the major new trends in the industry is to create a “digital front door,” integrating different systems, mobile apps, and workflows into a single pathway, so that patients can easily navigate their care. According to IDC, 65 percent of patients will be using a digital front door to access services by 2023. That means that patients can schedule appointments, estimate costs for services, use virtual care apps to engage with practitioners, get fast support from chatbots, review and pay bills online, and more – all from the same login.
As a result, the pressure is on data center, IT, and facility teams to deliver a digital-first user experience. They’re responding by standing up edge sites with dedicated computing, storage, power, and cooling to provide local processing and data management capabilities. So, what are the challenges these teams face, as they strive to meet fast-growing demand?
1. Guaranteeing high availability: Edge sites must provide 24/7/365 availability to enable a seamless digital clinician and patient experience. Digital healthcare use cases may be mission-critical, such as powering nursing workstations and back-office functions. Or they can be life-critical, such as enabling patient alarming or remote surgery consultations. Either way, healthcare organizations can’t afford downtime, which could risk patient health and cost thousands of dollars per minute if digital services are unavailable at the moment of need.
As a result, many healthcare organizations are now taking a second look at their uninterruptible power supply devices (UPSs). Vertiv™ Liebert® GXT5 UPSs have a double-conversion topology that completely isolates connected equipment from incoming power disturbances. Thus, when an issue occurs, they provide zero-transfer time from operating with the primary power source to the edge UPS. With these high-performing power management systems, IT teams can deliver the high-quality video and digital experience users want. In addition, IT can remotely manage these UPS devices with Vertiv™ Power Insight, maintaining constant situational awareness of their performance and intervening rapidly in the event of a suspected issue.
2. Reducing maintenance requirements: While healthcare organizations are using more IT than ever, they’re often placing edge sites in busy locations. Server and network equipment and IT systems may be placed in closets or rooms of hospitals, clinics, research labs, and offices. In addition, these spaces may be shared by multiple teams. As a result, IT teams want to ensure the reliable performance of backup power supply solutions, while reducing maintenance requirements that could disrupt daily operations.
Liebert GXT5 UPSs are available with lithium-ion batteries that provide exceptional reliability and performance. Since lithium-ion batteries typically last 8-10 years, they’re essentially a set-and-forget technology. In fact, they may last the entire lifespan of the UPS unit.
Vertiv intelligent UPS solutions also provide a predictive battery health algorithm and Vertiv Power Insight to help plan battery replacements when needed. The algorithm reviews current battery conditions and predicts a replacement date, so that IT can manage this process proactively.
3. Streamlining replacement: When lithium-ion batteries do need to be replaced, it’s easier for IT to do so. Lithium-ion batteries weigh 40 to 60 percent less and have a 40-percent smaller footprint than VRLA batteries, meaning that they are easier to lift onto racks or place in space-constrained environments. In addition, the smaller profile of Vertiv online lithium-ion UPSs frees up space for other devices, such as additional IT equipment or hospital systems.
4. Performing in less-than-optimal conditions: It’s not uncommon for healthcare organizations to place network and computing equipment in small spaces that may not be precision-cooled. Here, too, lithium-ion batteries shine. They provide better performance at temperatures up to 104°F (40°C), while VRLA batteries shed around half their lifespan for every 15°F temperature increase over 77°F.
As a result, Vertiv lithium-ion UPSs can be placed next to other technology or in room-temperature environments, without concern that these conditions will cause accelerated battery degradation or failure.
5. Reducing the total cost of ownership: Using lithium-ion batteries in UPS devices means that IT needs to replace batteries less frequently and can often service multiple units at once. These processes lead to the lowest total material and labor costs over the useful life of a lithium-ion UPS device. In addition, Vertiv lithium-ion solutions are backed by a five-year warranty. As a result, healthcare IT teams can easily plan replacements and free up spending for other digital initiatives.
Conclusion
Healthcare IT teams are key partners to the business in developing an exceptional digital user experience for clinicians and patients alike. As a result, IT is deploying more edge sites than ever to support both mission-critical and life-critical use cases.
Vertiv™ Liebert® GXT5 UPS solutions provide the backup power supply healthcare organizations need to go digital-first. Reliable, low-maintenance, and affordable, Vertiv Liebert lithium-ion UPS devices keep edge computing up and performing, wherever its placed. As a result, clinicians can stay productive and deliver high-quality care, both digitally and face-to-face.
Learn more about Vertiv™ Liebert® GXT5 UPS devices.
