Emerson Network Power announces the Liebert GXT4--an online, double-conversion rack-tower UPS range promising power protection and maximum availability for mission-critical applications.

The follow-up to the GXT3 product family, the GXT4 range offers 700VA to 10kVa models at 230V, all with a flexible rack-tower configuration and a compact design. The units are Energy Star qualified and feature an "ECO" mode maximising energy efficiency levels to improve overall power usage effectiveness (PUE).

A multi-language LCD interface provide easy data access, while Emerson monitoring software provides a variety of monitoring and configuration tools.

According to IHS the UPS market H1 2015 records the worst half-year results in 5 years as revenues drop by -8.7% Y-o-Y, in part due to unfavourable comparisons to a "relatively good" 2014.

Last year involved the closing of several large UPS deals while 2015 does not, leading to big vendors struggling to achieve positive revenue growth. Fluctuating currency exchange rates also affect the market, since local market sizes get artificially deflated when reported on in US dollar.

Another factor involves the increasing use of colocation datacentres-- a trend the analyst says leads to decreasing UPS shipments for use in small- and medium-size datacentres and server rooms.

The EMEA Q2 2015 ethernet switch (layer 2/3) market is "relatively weak," IDC reports, with Y-o-Y revenue declines reaching -2.4% Y-o-Y (or -3.2% Q-o-Q). Global revenues remain more or less flat with 1% Y-o-Y growth.

"Overall revenue and port shipment growth was weaker than expected in 2Q15. Even the relatively strong 10Gb segment saw weaker results than expected," the analyst says. "Given the increasing workloads traversing networks across the enterprise, datacentre, and with service providers, this weakness is likely the result of anticipation for and delayed decision-making around newer and emerging speeds, the intensifying competitive landscape, and of course, continued macroeconomic concerns."

According to Gartner global Q2 2015 server shipments are up by 8% Y-o-Y to reach 2.7 million units, while revenues total $13.6 billion with 7.2% Y-o-Y growth.

"Q2 2015 Y-o-Y growth slowed compared with the annual growth of Q1 2015," the analyst says. "Currency exchange rate changes have started to show their impact by reducing relative spending power in regions like W. Europe. It is likely that in anticipation of further currency rate shifts that some organisations utilised their budgets earlier in the year rather than waiting until Q3 or Q4 when their purchasing power may be further reduced by these relative currency changes."