Double Jeopardy In A Disaster – Computing Data Center Challenges In A Pandemic W

Smart computer data center disaster recovery planners are now thinking about the third generation of disaster recovery challenges: 100 percent remote, automated recovery. They know that the future isn’t about first-generation problems, like lightening strikes and floods. Those are old news to data center planners. From macroscopic approaches like redundant data centers in different states,… Continue reading Double Jeopardy In A Disaster – Computing Data Center Challenges In A Pandemic W

Seven Steps to Boost BCP to Ensure Regulatory Compliance

Federal Financial Examination Council (FFIEC) is the regulatory body by which financial institutions are regulated and controlled. FFIEC provides guidance and examination procedures to assist examiners like myself in evaluating financial institutions and service providers risk management process to ensure the availability of critical financial services. Reviewing a financial institution’s business continuity plan (BCP) is… Continue reading Seven Steps to Boost BCP to Ensure Regulatory Compliance

Ensuring Your Data Center is in Compliance

With Sarbanes-Oxley, SAS70, HIPAA and scores of other government and industry regulations, data center and facility managers are under  more scrutiny than ever before. While these regulations always start out as well meaning, invariably they end up putting onerous responsibilities on targeted organizations. As most of us now know, data centers have become the true… Continue reading Ensuring Your Data Center is in Compliance

Culture Clash – Disaster Recovery Challenges of Museums

While developing a disaster recover plan is difficult for any operation, cultural institutions face the challenge of protecting not only their facility’s livelihood, but the daunting task of ensuring that history, art, and other cultural artifacts be safeguarded for future generations. Art pieces, historical documents, archeological items, and even a historical building’s architectural features are… Continue reading Culture Clash – Disaster Recovery Challenges of Museums

E-mail is Down and You’re Out of Compliance

Seventy-five percent of companies today are expected to have a major e-mail outage this year – with downtime expected to last an average of 26 hours. It’s no secret that e-mail downtime can bring a company’s business to a halt – including huge losses in revenue and productivity. But that’s not all. A single e-mail… Continue reading E-mail is Down and You’re Out of Compliance

Enterprise, Know Thyself!

The day-to-day pressure on business and IT leaders to optimize and secure their IT for performance and profit is enormous. Add to this the complication of meeting compliance regulations. In the face of these needs, getting an organization to focus on and fund business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) planning and infrastructure continues to be… Continue reading Enterprise, Know Thyself!

Communication Factors During Crises, Disasters and Emergency Situations

New communication technologies would seem likely to be adopted at an accelerated rate by disaster recovery, crisis management, and business continuity professionals. Indeed, many technologies that were once thought of as science fiction are now commonly deployed and utilized (e.g. high mobility powerful computing capabilities, GPS, Wi-Fi, satellite and aerial reconnaissance functionalities, networking, hot site/mirror… Continue reading Communication Factors During Crises, Disasters and Emergency Situations

Are You Comfortable with Your Skills?

Editorial Advisory Board At one time or another, we have all asked ourselves, “How would I have responded in that horrific event?” Most of us cringe at the thought of Hurricane Katrina, Northeast power outage, or the Sept. 11 attacks. We may even question our own professional capabilities. Planners who are comfortable with their skills… Continue reading Are You Comfortable with Your Skills?

Disaster Photos Make Big Impact

On the cover of our last Journal (Winter 2007), we celebrated our 20th anniversary by publishing pictures of all our past covers. This compilation was very eye-catching and received a lot of compliments at our recent conference, Spring World 2007. Several attendees shook my hand and commented on the use of disaster photos on our… Continue reading Disaster Photos Make Big Impact