Schneider Electric is offering its APC uninterruptible power systems (UPSs) on a lease basis through partners.

The idea is that resellers and distributors can take APC Smart-UPS system and combine them with monitoring and dispatch services to create "UPS as a service" offerings for customers. This potentially gives the partner a smoother cash flow, and reduce capital costs for the customer, shifting capex into opex.

IT vendors such as HPE and Lenovo have offered hardware as a service for some time - under the old-fashioned word "leasing," it goes back many years. Mechanical and electrical equipment in the data center has proven more resistant to that approach, although Vertiv has proposed the idea. The Smart-UPS range, designed for smaller installations, could prove susceptible to the model, with this announcement reaching from 0.75kVA to 3kVA models.

The agreement is between the customer and the channel partner, and allows them to agree terms.

The agreement includes UPSs with preinstalled network management cards for remote monitoring, along with Schneider’s EcoStruxure IT monitoring software and dispatch services that provide 24x7 support. The length of the contract can be flexible from three to five years.

“When software and services come together to benefit customers, our partners are able to better meet changing business needs, while opening new opportunities and new revenue models to grow their businesses during this challenging time,” said Shannon Sbar, vice president of channels, North America, Schneider Electric.

“By empowering our IT distribution partners to develop a UPS as a Service solution, we’re helping them bring new value to IT solution providers with new recurring revenue streams and more touch points across the UPS life cycle to build stronger relationships with their customers.”