While maintenance will be contracted out for the larger UPSes, Hutterer said damaged smaller units would be replaced which is more cost effective.

"We have a maintenance agreement for any UPS above 10 kVA (kilovolt-ampere) because we can't move them, but we don't have an agreement for units below 10 kVA, because its cheaper to replace them than to include them in a maintenance contract. Its not a big issue anyway because the UPSes rarely fail, and we'll run something like a 3 percent spare pool with a battery-swap designed for about the three to four year mark."

The UPSes, which range from small 1.5kVAs to 20kVAs for the network-core, will have plenty of power as a 1.5kVA unit is capable of protecting two switches. All units are hot-swappable and feature simple network management protocol (SNMP) consoles to allow remote management from a central site.

The system will protect a range of departments and institutions including the ACT Legislative Assembly, ACT Emergency Services, and Canberra Hospital.