EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a seven-part series featuring the members of our executive council. Through these personal accounts, we hope to not only highlight their careers, but also give a seven-sided view of the history of the disaster recovery/business continuity industry. My journey through the disaster recovery and business continuity field began… Continue reading Business Continuity Chronicles

Disaster recovery (DR) plans and other business drivers often lead to multiple data centers outfitted with additional equipment. This approach requires significant and ongoing investments in real estate, computing, storage, and networking infrastructures that may not contribute effectively as possible to the DR, production, development, and test capabilities within the business. Why don’t companies leverage… Continue reading Leveraging Geographically Diverse Data Centers

It is an accepted best practice that business continuity, disaster recovery and emergency response teams receive training and participate in exercises. Training is important to the success of our programs. There is general agreement that appropriate knowledge and training underpins any organization’s capability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. Through an ongoing… Continue reading The Importance of a Comprehensive Training Program

Spring World 2004 marked the 30th conference for Disaster Recovery Journal since 1989. The conference attracted more than 1,400 contingency planners from around the globe. Held March 7-10 at Walt Disney World’s Coronado Springs Resort, the conference included more than 50 sessions, workshops and classes. According to attendee evaluation reports, the conference was rated as… Continue reading Spring World 2004 Marks 30th Conference

In the wake of several events in recent years, the topic of disaster recovery planning has taken on renewed importance. Small and large companies alike are being forced to evaluate their disaster responses for every level of their business. From human capital to facilities, office supplies to computer systems, there are a multitude of issues… Continue reading Data Recovery Completes Disaster Recovery

Having worked with quite a few business continuity planners, I came to realize that many of us have our own ways of looking at BCP. What I learned is that there is no absolute right way to do planning (contrary to what some vendors might say). An organization’s ability to be recovered after a disaster… Continue reading The Business Continuity Planning Cube

As storage networks grow larger and become more pervasive, IT managers face two challenges: balancing security needs to protect critical information resources and maintaining the flexibility necessary to meet growth scalability and changing business requirements. Increasing pressure within business verticals for regulatory compliance plays into the security landscape, and manifests itself with requirements for online… Continue reading Securing Storage Networks

Good business practices dictate that an organization should: Understand the impact on its operations resulting from a disruption of service; Understand the degree of dependence on its key service provider, including the effect of a disruption on the operations of a service provider; Identify recovery objectives and minimum requirements to be incorporated into its service… Continue reading Business Continuity and your Service Level Agreements

Sometimes I believe businesses forget the basics. We, as continuity planners, have an obligation to remind decision-makers the advantage of being proactive in our business management. Widespread unemployment, cuts in police and fire department budgets and rising fear of crime, especially terrorism, have intensified the American homeowner’s and business owner’s interest in protection. Look at… Continue reading Lack of Sound Security a Problem for Businesses

Sometimes I believe businesses forget the basics. We, as continuity planners, have an obligation to remind decision-makers the advantage of being proactive in our business management. Widespread unemployment, cuts in police and fire department budgets and rising fear of crime, especially terrorism, have intensified the American homeowner’s and business owner’s interest in protection. Look at… Continue reading Lack of Sound Security a Problem for Businesses