The Hidden Costs of In-House Disaster Recovery

When a company relies on its computing system for critical business operations, keeping the system up and running is essential. Nothing is more catastrophic to a business than an unexpected system outage. As managers create business recovery strategies to protect their businesses from such events, they may consider setting up an in-house recovery center, or… Continue reading The Hidden Costs of In-House Disaster Recovery

The 21st Century Emergency Operations Center

We prepare for disasters every year. Our techniques, plans, exercises and skills have improved from the previous year’s experiences. We support the idea of ‘preparing for the unexpected’. As the 21st century approaches, we anticipate and prepare for the worst case scenario disasters. The emergency operations center is the key to strategic response when a… Continue reading The 21st Century Emergency Operations Center

Commercial Recovery Facilities: Selecting a Hot Site Facility

Consolidation within the hot site industry has all but eliminated the small and start-up companies leaving well established reputable vendors in which to select from. Subsequently, evaluation criteria of past should be replaced with a question set commensurate with today’s hot site industry. The following questions have been designed to effectively and objectively select the… Continue reading Commercial Recovery Facilities: Selecting a Hot Site Facility

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