Batteries have been and will continue to be an ever increasing part of our lives. Whether in our cars (conventional and electric hybrid vehicles), in backing up enterprise data systems, telecommunications infrastructure, or as part of building management systems, the demand for back up power (and batteries) is growing and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. During emergency situations such as natural disasters and blackouts, or simple e911 mobile calls, back-up power reliability is becoming critical. Along with many other industries, today’s Telecommunications and mobile operators can’t afford to gamble on battery backup! To ensure back-up power systems can perform as expected when required, a comprehensive understanding of the battery’s operating condition, or “state of health”, and history are critical. Antiquated manual quarterly maintenance practices are insufficient to provide enough information to ensure continuous reliability. What is necessary and long overdue, are reliable, standards-based, real time remote monitoring systems which can provide accurate on demand information (not just data). These new systems will gather data, analyze it and provide mechanisms for intelligent analysis, which can alert operators to pending battery problems and help, determine how back-up systems will perform when needed.