February 21 , 2006
by Dylan Skriloff
Kimberly Welch of Iron Mountain, the leading data protection company in the world, dropped a bombshell on the 35 or so business people gathered for the RBA's February Technology Initiative seminar.
Sixty percent of the time there is a major computer "disaster" a company's backup systems do not even work and in such scenarios, most companies end up going out of business, she said. She was on hand to tout the capabilities of Iron Mountain backup systems and also to spread awareness about the issue. Bryan Hauptman of SunGard Availability Services also spoke to the crowd about his company’s backup and information availability systems.
John Koski, co-chair of the Technology Initiative emphasized to the crowd that disaster recovery is "a business plan, not an IT problem." Some of the RBA members in attendance, such as Robert Hubsher of Ramapo-Catskill Library System, were already very aware of this fact. As Director of RCLS, Hubsher’s central offices in Middletown, Orange County are responsible for the records of 47 local libraries.
"If we lose a day’s data, that is tens of thousands of transactions," Hubsher said.
He said RCLS already has a comprehensive backup system and is also exploring the option of purchasing an off-site vault to store data. He is also looking into buying an electrical generator to keep central computers working when there is a blackout.
Hudson Valley DataNet had to use their Dutchess County backup system, which Bill Reidy, Director of Outside Plant Engineering, described as "a concrete bunker," only once, just a few weeks after they finished the project in 2005. |
A contractor had taken out both of the fiber lines for their Network Operation Center (NOC) and the recently implemented backup system kicked in within minutes. The NOC was back up in three hours; three hours where the company would have not been able to provide customer service, Reidy said.
Pete Bressler, owner of My Computer Guru, said the seminar reinforced his own observations about disaster recovery. Bressler, who has been in the RBA for only about six months, has made a point of attending as many TI meetings as possible.
"People do not backup," Bressler said.
Welch said that Iron Mountain has one of the world's most secure underground facilities that houses sensitive papers, electronic data and other valuable items such as Bill Gate's art collection.
RBA CEO and President Al Samuels mentioned a different kind of disaster recovery plan he worked out with County officials that would allow key business personnel emergency access to their firms in times of crisis.
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