Short answer: for ICT, pick the PowerShield UPS by rack depth and how critical the load is. Shallow wall-mounted comms cabinets suit the Defender RackMount 800VA (230 mm deep) or 1500VA. Switches, firewalls and phone systems suit the pure sine wave Commander RT. Servers, storage and sites with poor power need the true online Centurion RT. Add the SNMP card V4 so servers and VMware hosts shut down cleanly in a long blackout.
ARC IP Networks is a trusted PowerShield supplier in Australia: genuine stock at competitive prices, with the full PowerShield Australian warranty, Australia-wide delivery and trade pricing.
ICT power protection at a glance
| Your need | Recommended PowerShield series | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Shallow wall-mounted comms cabinet | Defender RackMount (PSDR800, PSDR1500) | Line-interactive with AVR; 230 mm and 300 mm deep |
| Network rack: switches, firewall, phone system | Commander RT (PSCRT1100, PSCRT2000, PSCRT3000) | Pure sine wave, AVR, 2U rack or tower, hot-swap batteries |
| Servers, storage, virtual hosts | Centurion RT (PSCERT2000, PSCERT3000) | True online double conversion: protects against all 9 power problems |
| Shallow rack, online protection | Centurion RT Short Base (PSCERT2000SB) | 480 mm deep, takes the PSRTBB8 battery module |
| Long life, less maintenance | Centurion RT LiFePO4 (PSLCERT2000) | Lithium-iron phosphate, 5-year warranty |
| Remote monitoring and shutdown | SNMP card V4 (PSSNMPV4) + sensor (PSEMD) | Web access, scheduled shutdowns, VMware and Hyper-V support |
Series and specifications from powershield.com.au product pages.
Based on PowerShield’s PowerShield ICT Solutions page (powershield.com.au), PowerShield product pages and PowerShield partner training. Last reviewed October 2026.
Why ICT equipment needs a UPS
PowerShield’s ICT guidance starts from a simple point: every employee expects IT equipment, servers, phone systems and networks to be available all the time. Teams now work across many devices and locations, which raises the load on IT. Power protection keeps supply clean and consistent to minimise time loss, data loss and equipment damage.
A UPS will not prevent every outage, but battery backup lets you safely shut down and reboot systems, on site or remotely, before batteries run flat. PowerShield’s training notes three more risks that apply to Australian server rooms:
- Even short outages can damage equipment and force costly recalibration.
- Smaller, denser components tolerate power anomalies less well.
- Generators take time to start, so without a UPS your equipment still hard-shuts down.
PowerShield is an Australian-owned company operating since 2000, based in Malaga, Western Australia. It designs UPSs for Australian conditions and backs them with local technical support.
The 9 power problems and PowerShield’s Shield System
PowerShield groups power problems into nine types: power failure, sag, surge, under voltage, over voltage, spikes, frequency drift, switching transients and harmonic distortion. Its Shield System maps each UPS topology to how many of the nine it solves:
| Protection level | Power problems solved | PowerShield series |
|---|---|---|
| Standby (Basic Protection) | 3 of 9: power failure, power sag, power surge | Ninja Slimline (no voltage regulation) |
| Line-interactive (Enhanced Protection) | 5 of 9: adds under voltage and over voltage, corrected by AVR | SafeGuard, Defender, Commander |
| True online double conversion (Premium Protection) | 9 of 9: adds spikes, frequency drift, switching transients and harmonic distortion | Centurion tower and rack (three-phase Centurion Pro and Platinum on project quote) |
Source: PowerShield Shield System and “9 power problems” (PowerShield partner training).
PowerShield positions line-interactive UPSs for relatively clean mains: comms closets, non-centralised server and network rooms, IT enclosures. Choose online double conversion for mission-critical servers and for sites with poor power, such as regional offices or buildings with a generator.
Recommended PowerShield UPS by ICT scenario
Shallow wall-mounted comms cabinet
The Defender RackMount 800VA (PSDR800) is 800VA / 480W in 438 × 230 × 86 mm. PowerShield calls this 230 mm depth “the shallowest rackmount UPS in the market”. It has 8 outlets, AVR and an SNMP slot. The Defender RackMount 1500VA (PSDR1500) gives 1500VA / 900W at 300 mm deep, with two long-life 12 V 9 Ah batteries (8–10 year design life). Both are line-interactive with simulated sine wave output and a 2-year advance replacement warranty.
Network rack: switches, routers, firewalls and phone systems
The Commander RT is a line-interactive UPS with pure sine wave output, boost and buck AVR, a 0.9 output power factor, programmable outlets, EPO and hot-swappable batteries. PowerShield positions it for networking, telecom and other mission-critical uses. Sizes: PSCRT1100 (1100VA / 990W, 380 mm deep), PSCRT2000 (2000VA / 1800W, 480 mm, expandable) and PSCRT3000 (3000VA / 2700W, 600 mm, 15 A plug, expandable). All are 2U.
Servers, storage and virtualisation hosts
The Centurion RT is PowerShield’s highest power density single-phase online UPS. True online double conversion handles all nine power problems, it is generator compatible, and Advanced ECO mode reaches up to 98% efficiency. Choose the PSCERT1000, PSCERT1500, PSCERT2000 or PSCERT3000. Racks that are short on depth take the 480 mm Centurion RT 2000VA Short Base. The Network Ready bundle (PS2KRN2U) combines a PSCERT2000 with the PSRK rail kit and PSSNMPV4 card.
The Centurion RT LiFePO4 swaps lead-acid for lithium-iron phosphate. PowerShield quotes non-flammable cells, three times faster recharge and a third less weight, plus a 5-year warranty. Victoria’s myki ticketing network uses it in each comms cabinet because it fits existing 2RU spaces and supports SNMP.
Desk-side servers and small offices
For a tower under the desk, the Commander Tower 1100VA (PSCM1100) gives pure sine wave output, 990W and an LCD that shows battery time remaining. For a few PCs, a modem and a small NAS, the SafeGuard 1000 (PSG1000) is a wall-mountable powerboard-style UPS with AVR, 8 Australian outlets and USB monitoring.
Monitoring, SNMP shutdown and VMware
Every PowerShield UPS includes NetGuard software for local monitoring, graceful shutdown in an extended outage and power event logging. For racks you cannot see, add the PSSNMPV4 SNMP card. It gives remote access through a web browser and runs scheduled shutdowns, start-ups and reboots. It supports VMware and Hyper-V, and Modbus TCP/IP. Its EMD port takes the PSEMD sensor for temperature and humidity, plus two dry-contact inputs. PowerShield’s high-security and Cyber-Secure SNMP cards are available on project quote. For NAS shutdown, see our Synology UPS selection guide.
Genuine PowerShield UPSs for ICT
Live Australian pricing (inc. GST) and availability are shown on each product page.
230 mm deep, 480 W, AVR and SNMP slot for wall-mounted cabinets.
PowerShield in Australian ICT projects
At The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia, PowerShield installed Centurion Tower 10kVA UPSs in a master/slave setup for redundancy in the main server room. Centurion RT 3000VA units protect network hubs in racks around the park. Read our The Bend case study summary. At Sydney’s Circular Quay Tower, the building management system runs on Centurion tower and rack UPSs from 1000VA to 6000VA, with external battery packs and SNMP monitoring. Larger 10kVA and three-phase systems are available on project quote.
Sizing and runtime for server rooms
PowerShield sizes a UPS with five questions:
- Is the site metro or regional, and is the power stable?
- What is the electrical load?
- Do you need rackmount or tower?
- How much backup time do you need?
- How critical is the equipment?
Add up the watts, not just VA, and leave headroom. Runtime then depends on UPS capacity, the number of batteries and the load. In PowerShield’s own example, a Centurion RT 2000VA at a 1500VA server load runs 18 minutes alone, 67 minutes with one battery bank and 101 minutes with two. Work through our UPS sizing guide, then see battery banks and runtime. For shallow cabinets, our comms rack UPS guide covers depth, rails and venting.
Why buy PowerShield from ARC IP Networks
ARC IP Networks is a trusted PowerShield supplier in Australia: genuine stock at competitive prices, with the full PowerShield Australian warranty, Australia-wide delivery and trade pricing.
- Genuine PowerShield stock with the PowerShield Australian warranty, and warranty and RMA questions handled locally by our team.
- Australia-wide delivery, or free pickup from 6 George Street, Blackburn VIC 3130.
- Trade accounts for installers, integrators and MSPs, plus project and volume pricing on larger jobs.
- Pre-sales help on 1300 100 440 (Mon to Fri, 9 to 5 Melbourne time) or info@arcip.com.au.
Fitting out several comms rooms or a full server rack? Ask for project and trade pricing on the UPS, battery modules, SNMP cards, rails and PDUs together.
See the full PowerShield range at ARC IP Networks.
Get a quote for your server room or comms racks
Send us your rack depth, load in watts and target runtime. We will reply with matched PowerShield models and project or trade pricing. Call 1300 100 440.
Common questions
Straight answers from the ARC IP Networks team. Last reviewed October 2026.
For servers, storage and virtual hosts, PowerShield’s true online double conversion Centurion RT (for example PSCERT2000 or PSCERT3000) protects against all 9 power problems. For network-only racks on clean mains, the pure sine wave Commander RT is a cost-effective alternative.
The Defender RackMount 800VA (PSDR800) is 230 mm deep and the Defender RackMount 1500VA (PSDR1500) is 300 mm deep. If you need online double conversion, the Centurion RT 2000VA Short Base (PSCERT2000SB) is 480 mm deep.
Yes, with the PowerShield SNMP card V4 (PSSNMPV4). It supports VMware and Hyper-V environments and can run scheduled shutdowns, start-ups and reboots. NetGuard software, included with every PowerShield UPS, handles graceful shutdown of a locally connected computer.
PowerShield positions line-interactive models (Defender, Commander) for relatively clean mains such as comms closets and IT enclosures. Choose online double conversion (Centurion) for mission-critical servers, sites with poor power or sites running on a generator.
Add a matching PowerShield battery module. The PSRTBB8 suits the PSCRT2000 and PSCERT2000SB, the PSRTBB12 suits the PSCRT3000, PSCERT2000 and PSCERT3000, and the PSRTBB6 suits the PSCERT1000 and PSCERT1500.
Yes. The PSEMD environmental monitoring device connects to the PSSNMPV4 card and reports temperature and humidity. It also has two dry-contact inputs for external sensors.
Defender models have a 2-year advance replacement warranty. Commander and Centurion single-phase models have 2 years, extended to 3 years when registered with PowerShield, and Centurion RT LiFePO4 models have 5 years.
ARC IP Networks is a trusted PowerShield supplier in Australia, with genuine stock at competitive prices, the full PowerShield Australian warranty, Australia-wide delivery, and trade and project pricing.
Related guides
- Best UPS for comms racks and network cabinets
- PowerShield UPS selection for Synology NAS
- Case study: The Bend Motorsport Park server room UPS
- Online vs line-interactive UPS explained
- UPS for mining and remote sites
- UPS for medical and vaccine refrigeration
- UPS for marine and offshore
- Power protection for defence
- How to size a UPS: VA, watts and runtime
- PowerShield battery banks and runtime
- Shop the PowerShield range at ARC IP Networks (PowerShield hub)