8 Surprising Disaster Recovery Stats.

Disaster Recovery: What We Don’t Know Could Mean Lost Opportunities. Disasters come in all sizes, from a hurricane or nuclear reactor breach to a local wind blowing down a power line. And, disasters can strike at any time, most often when a business is least prepared. Disaster Recovery Plans Impact New SMB Tech Investments. Early SMB Adoption Of New Tech Improves Disaster Recovery Preparedness. Small Firms Still Lag Larger Businesses In Business Continuity Readiness. U.S. Businesses Lag Behind Others In Disaster Preparedness. Tape Still A Big Part Of DR, But Off-Site Data Centers Still Tops. More Data In Remote Offices Need To Be Protected. Human Error The Top Cause Of Data Center Downtime. Customers Still Not Protecting Virtualized Data. -by: Joseph F. Kovar Read the entire article here.

10 Reasons Disaster Recovery Plans Fail.

Despite preparations, many small- and mid-sized companies won’t survive in the wake of a disaster; Janco Associates lists the reasons many plans are inadequate.As businesses in the Gulf Coast are finding out again, having a disaster recovery plan is critical to a business’ survival. According to the “Gulf Coast Back to Business Act (2007),” 43 percent of businesses that close after a natural disaster never reopen, and an additional 29 percent permanently close within two years. However, in the wake of the ongoing financial crisis, many disaster recovery plans are now out of date. Backups do not work. Not identifying every potential event that can jeopardize the infrastructure and data upon which the enterprise depends. Forgetting or ignoring the cross-training of personnel in DR/BC. Not including a communication processes that will work when your communication infrastructure is lost. Not having sufficient capacity and duration of backup power. Having a recovery plan in place, but not listing priorities of which resources need to be restored first. No physical documentation of your DR/BC plan. Disaster recovery and business continuity plan that has not been tested adequately. Passwords are not available to the DR/BC team. Disaster recovery and business continuity plan is not up to date. -by: Chris McMahon Read the entire article here.

The cloud – business continuity at affordable pricing?

Many organisations look to the cloud to provide some level of contingency against their own systems going down, be it off-site data backup, failover servers for business applications, or the use of high-availability servers and software. The level of disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity (BC) a given organisation chooses to put in place will vary according to its own risk appetite and budget. -by: Clive Longbottom Read the entire article here.

The Difference Between Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning

In our global business environment a catastrophe in one place may pass unnoticed in another.  Where a company may suffer a devastating disaster, be it natural or electronic, their customers may be none the wiser.  This means that customers still expect their delivery and their service.  They still expect to pay their invoice.  Disaster recovery helps the business stand back up and dust themselves off after an event takes down their people, systems or information.  Business continuity helps ensure that deliveries are still made on time, that services continue uninterrupted (or with minimal interruption) and that life and business continues as normal for the unaffected. -by: billyRead the entire article here.

Cloud Computing Enables Business Scalability And Flexibility

The most common meaning of the term cloud computing refers to the delivery of scalable IT resources over the Internet as opposed to hosting and operating those resources locally. Cloud computing enables your company to react faster to the needs of your business, while driving greater operational efficiencies. Cloud computing has a great impact on business thinking. It facilitates a change in the way companies operate, by offering shared and virtualized infrastructure that is easily scalable. It is also changing how we manage these resources. The challenge is no longer about how many physical servers a company has, but more about being able to manage these virtual resources. -by: Ricks Blaisdell Read the entire article here.

Now is not the time to be creating your disaster recovery plans.

Planning for disaster shouldn’t start when the disaster is imminent. Over the last few days I’ve received no fewer than five emails from various vendors of disaster recovery / business continuity services. The publicity surrounding the progress of hurricane Isaac has brought these vendors PR people all the same idea; it’s time to remind the media and our customers (and potential customers) that they should be reviewing or creating their disaster recovery plans, testing their equipment, and going through the checklist of tasks and responsibilities in the event of a business disaster. -by: David Chernicoff Read the entire article here.

The Shifting Role Of IT In Cloud Computing.

The line between cloud computing and information technology is hazy, but it is always safe to say that they complement each other, with cloud computing representing the latest paradigm for remodeling IT services. There are very clear roles of IT in cloud computing technology, which can yield greater business benefits if well harnessed. -by: John Omwamba Read the entire article here.

Advantages Of Cloud Computing.

Cloud computing tells us how to use the computer resources more efficiently. It is the name of the technology that has changed our point of view regarding software and hardware requirements. Interestingly, cloud computing is the mixture of various delivery models, technology, and latest ideas, but also includes other models in the sector of IT. These models are specially designed for companies that provide services over the Internet. Cloud computing allows the user to access servers, data center space, software, and any of the network equipment. The user can also have the required platform if he or she wants to build an application. Hosting and maintenance can also be done by using cloud computing. -by: Walter Bailey Read the entire article here.

Tech: The beauty of virtualisation.

Virtualisation, a pretty revolutionary technology. Not exactly new, been out for a few years at least.  What exactly does it do? It creates a virtual copy of your physical server (aka an entire computer stored as a file), which is really very, very mindblowing. It strikes me this way, because of the multiple benefits involved. -by: kein Read the entire article here.

The value of your backups is in the data.

Some IT people still don’t get the whole purpose of backups–even very seasoned professionals. But, the short answer is, “The value is in the data.” Here we are in mid 2012 and you’d think that you’d heard every possible mistake someone could make in working with backups. Not so. It’s sad to say that every time I gather with other IT professionals, I hear the horror stories of backups gone bad. And, let me tell you this, it’s hard for a snarky, quick-witted, sarcastic and highly irritable guy like me to remain silent during these tales of woe. I have to resist, with all my might, the urge to smack the monologing dolt who, while spouting his expertise, tells enthusiastically of his folly. Surely I can’t be  the only one reaching for another Diet Dr. Pepper and shaking my head when these people open their mouths. -by: Ken Hess Read the entire article here.