Findings of the SD USERS’ SATISFACTION SURVEY 2011 suggest that today's customer is very sensitive price & quality wise. The higher rating customer is extremely quality conscious still he wants good value for money and thinks UPS to be an integral part of the computing system while at the lower end too the myth “that customer is price sensitive & it’s the price that matters for him” is gone. Today the customer going in for lower rating online UPS is very curious to know the quality of the product and the quality of service he will receive post purchase. He is no more interested in sacrificing quality for price. The survey shows that power protection equipment customers in India primarily evaluate product reliability, maintenance and service capabilities while selecting power protection equipment and hence companies with presence (having a service center) nearer the installation are preferred, this is more true in case of large installations, this is also evident with more higher end UPSs are now being sold by Indian UPS companies compared to earlier.

Energy saving is going to be huge factor in determining the success of UPS equipment. "Manufacturers will need to be more creative and proactive in identifying and grasping presently unexploited opportunities in the field of energy saving. With all suppliers already providing high value to their clients and competition being intense, energy saving differentiation - although very difficult to achieve - will be key to accessing new markets. With increasing value of space, there is an increased focus amongst the new age customers to incorporate higher wattage per cubic inch and demand high power factor for higher efficiency. This is where the Indian manufacturers had lost the plot to the Chinese & Taiwanese companies. With rack mounted version even the high end UPSs are coming with small foot print. However Indian companies are fast catching up.

New vendors who want to position themselves in the Indian Power Conditioners and transient voltage surge suppressors markets are taking the easy way out of R&D and now even the established once need to enhance their capabilities by going the Chinese way. This years survey clearly indicates that trading their way out to win market is no longer yielding success as Rupee went weak against the US$.

Softdisk has always been trying its level best to educate the end-users. We have always maintained that it is for the manufacturers who have to identify the users’ need and provide with cost effective, long term solutions to address them.

No wonders, our readers (the end-users) have positioned us as Power Quality Consultants. Our mission is to forge partnerships between Power Protection Equipment manufacturers and end users.

This year the survey findings were analyzed more analytically by firstly bifurcating Online & Offline/Inline UPS manufacturers separately. UPSs were further bifurcated into Three Phase and Single Phase products in to various kVA categories, measured separately on Quality, After Sales Service, Pre Sales End User Education, Technology advantage vis-à-vis Cost effectiveness which Softdisk considers a must. The manufacturer must be able to identify the need of the end user and feed them with requisite information that will enable them to decide from the plethora of products available in the market, to actually have a quality product at a good enough price.

The Offline/Inline UPS systems were not categorized at this level. This limits by not allowing us to compare APC with say Emerson or Numeric. However it is still the online parallel redundant dual conversion technology which rules the roost when it comes to high-end mission critical applications. However at certain places Solar Energy solutions have gained some acceptance, but all there are at a very nascent stage. Your magazine is the first to come out with Solar Integrators rakings based on kWP they have commissioned in the fiscal 2010-11.

As usual we have updated the SD RATINGS, with stale companies earlier in the list being removed and new companies included which serves as a benchmark for quality and price-worthiness. May this survey allows the end-users to take correct decisions, which help their business in the long run.

As usual an effort by SOFTDISK to educate the masses.

Best in Product Quality DIGITAL HPE 33, NUMERIC AROS 3000, PCI EATON 9395 Best in After Sales Service NUMERIC EMERSON PCI Best in Pre Sales End User Education EMERSON APC Best in Technology Advantage vis-a-vis Cost Effectiveness DB POWER

As the above chart indicates Numeric and PCI emerged with top honors securing 95% satisfaction ratings. Numeric, Eaton & PCI were adjudged best in product quality. Emerson which was adjudged best in After Sales Service along with PCI & NUMERIC came a close second with 94% satisfaction rating.

Eaton was just 1 percentage point behind, clinching the 3rd spot in the above 200 kVA ratings in the 3 Phase category. Close on the heels was the APC (SCHNIDER) which narrowly missed the 3rd spot by 0.5% points, having to satisfy itself with the 4th spot. However APC-Schneider along with Emerson were adjudged best in Pre Sales End User Education.

Powerone, Bangalore which earned A++ satisfaction rating with 92 percentage point were adjudged Best in Technology Advantage vis-a-vis Cost Effectiveness, Powerone has over 20, 200 kVA plus installations clinched the 5th spot in the above 200 kVA ratings in this category.

Best in Product Quality MODULON NH PLUS, DELTA EATON 9390, EATON LIEBERT NX, EMERSON DIGITAL HPE I 33, NUMERIC Best in After Sales Service Emerson Numeric Best in Pre Sales End User Education Emerson Eaton Best in Technology Advantage vis-a-vis Cost Effectiveness POWERONE HYKON

As the above chart indicates Delta Energy, Emerson, Eaton and Numeric emerged with top honors securing 93% satisfaction ratings. There product Delta’s Modulon NH Plus, Numeric DIGITAL HPE I 33, Eaton 9390 & Liebert NX were adjudged best in product quality while Emerson & Numeric were adjudged best in After Sales Service.

PCI AROS brand came a close second with 92.5 satisfaction ratings.

Close on the heels were the AETT 3 - AETT 200 Series from Thrissur based Hykon India having a satisfaction rating of 92, the product along with POWERONE HT range was adjudged best in product quality vis-à-vis cost effectiveness satisfaction rating.

Powerone’s HT Series with a satisfaction rating of 91.5 was adjudged the fourth best, While Uniline grabbed the 5th spot with a satisfaction rating of 91%. Eaton & Emerson were adjudged the best in terms of End-User education.

Best in Product Quality HPE Series NUMERIC TECH UPS, TECHSER GETT5 - GETT50, HYKON POWERCOM VGD 1031 ARVI GN Series Best in After Sales Service NUMERIC EMERSON UNILINE Best in Pre Sales End User Education APC Best in Technology Advantage vis-a-vis Cost Effectiveness NUMERIC POWERONE UNILINE

As the above chart indicates Numeric, Techser Power, Delta Energy and Emerson emerged with top honors securing 94% satisfaction ratings. HPE Series from Numeric, TECH UPS from TECHSER, GETT5 - GETT50 from Hykon India, Powercom VGD 1031 from Asia Powercom & Arvi’s GN Series were adjudged best in terms of Power Quality.

Uniline Energy Systems, & Powerone Micro systems with 93% satisfaction rating clinched the second spot in the Users’ Satisfaction Survey, 2011. Numeric, Uniline along with Emerson were adjudged best in After Sales Service. APC which has best record in Pre Sales End User Education & along with Asia Powercom and Arvi Controls & Systems clinched the 3rd spot in this category with 92% satisfaction level. Close on the heels was Thrissur based Hykon & Microtek International, a Delhi based company which started making its presence felt in the UPS Market which managed to clinch 91.5% satisfaction ratings clinching the fourth spot.

Tiny Triton from Tritronics India with 91 % satisfaction level clinched the 5th spot in this category.

Best in Product Quality HP Series NUMERIC TECH UPS, TECHSER VGD 6000, POWERCOM SMART UPS RT, APC Best in After Sales Service NUMERIC UNILINE NEXUS POWER Best in End User Education APC Best in Technology Advantage vis-a-vis Cost Effectiveness NUMERIC POWERONE UNILINE

As the above chart indicates APC, Emerson, Numeric and Uniline emerged with top honors securing 94% satisfaction ratings. HP Series from Numeric, TECH UPS from TECHSER, VGD SERIES from POWERCOM and SMART UPS RT from APC were adjudged best in terms of Product Quality.

Powerone Micro Systems & Techser Power with 93% satisfaction rating clinched the second spot in the Users’ Satisfaction Survey, 2011.

ASIA Powercom clinched the 3rd spot in this category with 92% satisfaction level. Close on the heels were Tiny Triton from Tritronics India & Megaline Series from Consul Consolidated which managed to clinch 91.5% satisfaction ratings clinching the fourth spot. Nexus with 91 % satisfaction level clinched the 5th spot in this category.

Numeric, Uniline along with Nexus Power System was adjudged best in providing After Sales Service.

Best in Product Quality　 HP Series NUMERIC APC BE500Y-IN 500 VA SUPER, WeP Best in After Sales Service NUMERIC UNILINE NEXUS MICROTEK Best in Technology Advantage vis-a-vis Cost Effectiveness ASIA POWERCOM ELENT

As the above chart indicates HP Series from Numeric, APC’s Back UPS BE500Y-IN AND 500 VA SUPER from WeP Peripherals clinched the top slot in the Over all rating with 94% satisfaction level, these product were also adjudged having the Best product quality.

Next in line was ASIA POWERCOM clinching the 2nd spot with 93% satisfaction level. They along with Elent had the distinction of having been judged Best in Technology Advantage vis-à-vis Cost-Effectiveness. However it was Numeric, Uniline and Nexus which emerged as the best in terms of After Sales Service.

Uniline & Elent bagged overall 3rd spot by clinching 92.5% satisfaction level. Microtek made mark in UPS with its Heritage Plus Series clinching 92% satisfaction level to clinch the 4th spot. They are also adjudged best in After Sales Service.

Nexus Power Systems having one of best service network clinched the fifth spot with 91% satisfaction level for their NX series.