Revenues from the sale of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) services in the first quarter of 2012 are roughly one percent less than in the same period last year. IMS Research, recently acquired by IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), has been tracking quarterly changes in this market since 2009. Over the years, the first quarter has proven to be seasonally slow, but never has it shown negative growth year-over-year.

The UPS service market includes service contracts, warranties, installation, battery replacements and preventive maintenance on UPS hardware. Growth trends in the UPS service market closely follow those seen in the UPS hardware market, which, according to IMS Research’s UPS hardware tracker, slowed down in the fourth quarter of 2011 and slowed down further in the first quarter of 2012.