Right sizing backup power has for long been an unmet need for end users. Businesses face the challenge of anticipating their growth over time, which eventually leads them to face issues with backup power requirement. There is a trend where end users tend to deploy a UPS system configured for a larger power range to accommodate future growth. In reality, there are two key challenges associated with this issue. The first one is they end up paying for the additional power they will not use initially. The second issue arises when they do not grow their business as anticipated. Modular UPS systems address these challenges effectively with their inherent flexibility and scalability, i.e., modules can be added or made redundant according to requirement. The modular rack mounting configuration offers customers the advantage of swapping a faulty module with a new one without interruption to the working process of the whole UPS.

Data centres are the largest end-user verticals for modular UPS systems, accounting for nearly 50% of the total revenue. Given the nature of data centres, they are also the segment that prefers this pay-as-you-grow model the most. This is a key factor driving modular UPS market revenue. The demand for data transfer and storage has significantly increased in the last few years and is expected to increase further during the forecast period. This demand for data transfer and storage has resulted in storage and computing solutions becoming more complex and advanced in nature, creating a strong shift towards modularity. The data centre by itself is increasingly becoming modular; i.e., a shift from the traditional brick and mortar model to a self-contained modular design. The evolution of modular data centres will play a crucial role in the adoption of modular UPS systems.

The global modular UPS market is still in its growth stage, with a lot of potential for penetration in the future. The awareness level has been increasing steadily in the last five years. Currently, it accounts for nearly 13% of the total UPS market. From a regional perspective, North America (NA) is the biggest market for modular data UPS systems, although it is only marginally ahead of China and Europe. It is also noteworthy that China is the single biggest country in the world for modular UPS revenue; it is also expected to be the fastest growing region during the forecast period. While modular UPS revenue in western regions is primarily driven by the data centre vertical, China’s revenue is spread across other end-user verticals, with a specifically strong government and infrastructure vertical.