Lightning protection systems have changed drastically since the invention of lighting rods in 1752. Today's systems must protect modern appliances, electrical systems and building constructions - they have to keep up with the changing requirements of modern technology. To ensure longevity of any electrical device you must properly protect it.

For example on a phone system install; we require a battery backup/surge protection unit, grounding and sneak fuses on every line coming in from the local telephone company. Their is a common misconception that the fuses that the telephone company has in place will protect your equipment. The truth is that this is basic protection that prevents an old style non-electronic telephone along with the wiring in the building from burning up. This basic protection lets so much voltage and current through that anything electronic will most likely get destroyed.

We live in the Information Age where countless data is created, transmitted, received, and stored. We live in an Electronic Age where numerous electric driven machines aid in business tasks, as well as many other tasks.

The reality of living in this time of technological innovation is that the power to run these machines can't keep up presently, hence the reason in peak electric seasons in summer we occasionally experience power failures due to high demand. In many locations around the world, electricity generation, transmission and distribution have not evolved at the same pace as computer and communications equipment have. The electric grid built years ago for powering factories producing manufactured goods is struggling to adapt to provide continuous, sufficient-grade power to sensitive electronics processing valuable information.

If the voltage drops low enough, or blacks out, hard drives in computers may crash, destroying the data stored on the drives. In all cases, work-in-progress stored in the computers cache is instantly lost. In the worst case, password protection on the hard drives can become jumbled, or the file allocation tables may be fragmented, rendering the hard drive unusable.

Downtime = Money Loss

In this Information Age, data is critical. It is the livelihood of any businesses across the world, and in any number of business applications.

The Internet has emphasized that availability equals visibility. If companies do not have reliable solutions for the continuing operation of their equipment, they will lose money. For example, if one company's web server crashes due to a blackout, customers are apt to click over to a competitor's site. If mission-critical computers involved in manufacturing are damaged by a surge, inventory runs behind and schedules are missed. This is why it is necessary to properly safeguard electronic devices.