APC Smart-UPS

APC Smart-UPS is a product brand within APC (American Power Conversion), the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and power-protection company founded in the United States in the 1980s and acquired by Schneider Electric in 2007. Smart-UPS is APC's best-known and longest-running UPS family: a range of network-grade, line-interactive and online double-conversion UPS units designed to keep servers, network gear, point-of-sale systems, telecom equipment and small data centers running through outages and power-quality problems. The line spans compact tower units for a single server or wiring closet up to rack-mount and modular units for enterprise IT rooms, and it is sold worldwide through IT distributors, resellers and systems integrators. What distinguishes Smart-UPS as a brand is its positioning as the "smart" UPS: units ship with network management cards and software (historically APC's PowerChute family, now under Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure IT umbrella) that let administrators monitor power, receive alerts, orchestrate graceful shutdowns and manage fleets of devices remotely. That software-plus-hardware bundle, plus a long-standing reputation for reliability and a broad service/replacement-battery ecosystem, made Smart-UPS a default specification in enterprise IT procurement and a reference product in the UPS category. Ownership sits with Schneider Electric, the French electrical-equipment and energy-management group, which bought APC in 2007 and folded it into what became its Secure Power division (later part of its energy-management and data-center businesses). APC continues to operate as a brand — "APC by Schneider Electric" — and Smart-UPS remains its flagship UPS line, alongside related families such as Back-UPS (consumer/SOHO), Symmetra and Galaxy (large data-center UPS) and the NetShelter rack range. The brand's markets are effectively global, with strong presence in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, and its customers are IT managers, small and mid-sized businesses, healthcare and retail operators, and edge/telecom deployments. Because Smart-UPS is a product line rather than a standalone company, its "history" is the history of APC's UPS business and of Schneider Electric's data-center power strategy. Key turning points include APC's rise in the 1990s as the leading UPS brand for network computing, the 2007 Schneider Electric acquisition, the integration of APC's management software into Schneider's EcoStruxure platform, and the ongoing shift toward lithium-ion battery options, higher-efficiency online models and edge-computing-optimized designs. The brand's identity is tightly bound to the idea of protecting critical IT loads — a positioning it has held for decades and continues to defend against competitors such as Eaton, Vertiv and Delta.

Smart-UPS belongs to APC (American Power Conversion), a company founded in the United States in the 1980s that built its business on power protection for the then-emerging personal-computer and network-computing markets. APC's early products targeted desktop and small-server users, but as local-area networks, file servers and internet infrastructure spread through the 1990s, the need for UPS systems that could talk to servers and shut them down gracefully became a distinct enterprise requirement. Smart-UPS was APC's answer to that requirement: a network-grade UPS line with serial/network communication, management software and a form factor suited to server rooms and racks. Through the 1990s and 2000s Smart-UPS became one of the most widely specified UPS families in IT, helped by APC's broad channel, its PowerChute management software and a large installed base that made replacement batteries and service a recurring business. APC expanded the line into rack-mount and higher-capacity models and complemented it with the Back-UPS consumer line, the Symmetra modular data-center UPS and the NetShelter rack/enclosure range, positioning APC as a one-stop infrastructure vendor for server rooms. A major turning point came in 2007, when the French electrical-equipment group Schneider Electric acquired APC. The deal folded APC's UPS, rack and power-distribution business into Schneider Electric, which subsequently organized it within its critical power and cooling (Secure Power) activities and, later, its broader energy-management and data-center businesses. Under Schneider Electric the APC brand was retained — marketed as "APC by Schneider Electric" — and Smart-UPS continued as the flagship UPS line, while APC's management software was progressively integrated into Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure IT data-center management platform. In the years since, the Smart-UPS family has evolved with the market: higher-efficiency online double-conversion models, modular and scalable designs, lithium-ion battery options in place of traditional valve-regulated lead-acid batteries, remote monitoring and subscription-style management services, and configurations aimed at edge computing and distributed IT sites rather than only centralized server rooms. The brand's competitive set includes Eaton, Vertiv (Liebert), Delta, CyberPower and other UPS specialists, and Smart-UPS competes on reliability reputation, software integration, service network and breadth of models. Because Smart-UPS is a product line rather than a company, it has no independent corporate history, financial statements or ownership separate from APC and Schneider Electric; its story is the story of APC's UPS franchise and of Schneider Electric's data-center power strategy.

• APC founded in the United States as a power-protection company

• Smart-UPS launched as APC's network-grade UPS line with management software

• APC acquired by Schneider Electric

• APC management software integrated into Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure IT platform

• Smart-UPS line extended with lithium-ion battery options and edge-oriented models

Premium, network-grade power protection for critical IT loads, sold as an intelligent hardware-plus-software system for server rooms, network closets and edge sites.

• Smart-UPS tower models

  Compact network-grade UPS for a single server, wiring closet or small office.

• Smart-UPS rack-mount models

  Rack-mount UPS units for server rooms and IT racks.

• Smart-UPS Online (double-conversion)

  Online double-conversion UPS providing continuous conditioned power.

• Network management card

  Optional card enabling remote monitoring and shutdown over the network.

• PowerChute / EcoStruxure IT software

  Management software for monitoring UPS status and orchestrating graceful shutdowns.

• Replacement battery cartridges

  Field-replaceable battery packs for Smart-UPS units.

• Unconfirmed

  Reported2026.08.11

  Schneider Electric launches next-generation APC Smart-UPS[1]施耐德电气推出新一代APC Smart-UPSengineering.com

  Schneider Electric announced the next generation of APC Smart-UPS, described as the industry's first monolithic multi-chemistry uninterruptible power supply for distributed IT and edge environments, supporting VRLA and lithium-ion batteries. The SRTD On-Line series (2.2kVA and 3kVA) will be available to order in North America beginning September 1, 2026.

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1. 1施耐德电气推出新一代APC Smart-UPSengineering.com