According to the National Archives and Records Administration, over 90% of companies with 10+ days of downtime file for bankruptcy within a year. Every business needs a tested, effective business continuity plan, since that’s what gets a company through a natural disaster with minimal disruption. The specifics of an enterprise’s disaster recovery plan will vary depending on the company’s location. For enterprises located in tornado and hurricane zones, a disaster recovery plan must meet a unique set of demands. For a starting framework, see FEMA’s business continuity planning guidance.
In 2015, the U.S. saw 1,285 tornadoes and a record number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes. Hurricane Sandy devastated hundreds of businesses along the Atlantic coast. Companies in Tornado Alley (Texas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Eastern Colorado) must be able to withstand upwards of 60 tornados a year. Companies along the Atlantic Coastline, meanwhile, need to protect data and equipment through the Atlantic Hurricane Season. This kind of hosting provides businesses with a vital safeguard against the effects of natural disasters.
What Is Disaster Recovery
Whether an enterprise opts for Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) or colocation services, disaster recovery is a large-scale, holistic strategy. It covers preparation and recovery from disasters that disrupt a business’s environment and infrastructure. These strategies should combine people, processes, policies, and technology, all focused on restoring critical systems and supporting the business right after a tornado or hurricane. Regardless of the specifics, a disaster recovery plan’s goal is always the same: protect mission-critical applications, data, and infrastructure, since downtime and outages are costly no matter the cause.
There are two main options for this type of hosting, since the right choice depends on your company’s size and in-house expertise. These are Colocation Centers and Disaster Recovery As A Service (DRaaS). Colocation centers offer third party facilities that allow companies to set up their own network, servers, and storage for protection. DRaaS plans work well for small to mid-sized companies that lack the in-house expertise to build and run an effective disaster recovery plan. These services include the replication and hosting of servers by a third party. In both cases, an off-site vendor faces less risk from a natural disaster than the business itself does.
Why At-Risk Data Centers Need This Kind of Protection
Today’s customers expect 24-hour-a-day service, every day of the week. Businesses that want to stay ahead of the competition need the infrastructure to support continuous operation. Enterprises in geographic regions prone to natural disasters risk irreparable damage to their data center’s physical and technological infrastructure. Possible threats include physical damage, flooding, power outages, and network breakages.
Even if the storm never hits the data center directly, power outages across the area can last for weeks, which means a business can lose up to a million dollars for every hour of downtime. The applications and networks operating out of a data center fall into a class called “mission critical.” This data is vital to the enterprise, and any downtime can cause irreparable damage. Disaster recovery centers offset these risks by offering clients multiple locations and geographically redundant, cloud-based systems with data protection.
Disaster Recovery Hosting For Data Centers
Disaster recovery services start with impact analysis to determine needed provisions and safeguards. Enterprises that lack a standardized set of procedures and protocols should contact potential data centers to learn the details of their disaster recovery hosting services. A complete plan also means backing up your website and applications, so nothing is lost while systems come back online.
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