On September 15 2008, top US investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Founded in 1850, in 2007 Lehman Brothers achieved record net revenues, net income and earnings per common share for the fourth consecutive year. In less than one year Lehman Brothers saw their once record net revenue plunge to $6 billion in the red. The question isn’t how does a mammoth organisation such as Lehman Brothers find themselves in this position but, in the current climate where seemingly financially stable firms are filing for bankruptcy, who is your business safe with?

Many businesses outsource (their IT) for various reasons; cost savings, operational expertise, capacity management to name a few. Outsourcing firms also often offer other services, such as business continuity planning and disaster recovery plans. Replication between multiple data centres, redundant links, work space relocation, ISO 27001 and BS 7799 are all good, but what happens when the company providing that service ceases to trade? Suddenly you’re in a position where it takes weeks to get equipment back, you struggle to get support and the whole affair leads to hundreds of hour’s worth of downtime, and possibly bankruptcy for your own company. The possibilities are endless and the scenarios frightening.

So, how can you safeguard your business? To start with, you need to think about how the company would cope if its provider ceased trading. This means you need to have your own BCP/DR plan created by your company or a 3rd party, but not by the provider. You also need to ensure that your provider has its own BCP/DR plan, and that it includes any equipment/services it provides you. Remember, nothing is impossible, and the more eventualities you can factor for the better.

In the current economic climate many companies may see outsourcing as a way to reduce costs, however it should be remembered that you must never outsource accountability; at the end of the day, the senior managers/directors of a company are where buck stops, solely accountable to the business, its customers and its employees.

Keeping your critical systems in-house and employing internal IT staff capable of running these systems is one way to ensure business continuity. Helpdesk and minor systems (a system that can be down for a week, or can be easily migrated) can be outsourced, but keep these systems simple so if needs be you can move providers quickly and efficiently. Keep your options open and keep an eye on your providers for signs of potential problems. This shouldn’t fall under the IT Managers remit only however, senior manager and directors need to take a real interest in providers and, after all, they have the relevant skills to assess the provider’s stability.

In today’s gloomy economy anything is possible and the seemingly mighty have, and will continue, to fall. A dynamic, reserved approach to outsourcing whilst maintaining internal ownership of critical systems and over all accountability, internally and externally, is essential. This will enable your business to make savings and ensure business continuity -and survival- in these turbulent times.

Tom Farrar is an experienced IT Engineer with several years’ tier 2 data centre / tier 2 carrier experience and a wide knowledge products/solution; Tom is practised in DNS zone management, enterprise anti-spam techniques, packet shaping and penetration testing. Tom is an a technical member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology and a Red Hat Certified Engineer.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Farrar

Planning, creating, and building a data centre can be one of the most expensive tasks an IT director can face. In order to maximize cost effectiveness and achieve optimum performance, reliability is key.

Data centre size can range from one room in an office to an entire building, but there are some basic requirements which must be implemented to ensure system reliability. When designing a data centre, efficient planning is very important. A number of areas must be addressed to ensure a dependable and efficient system which is capable of continued operation.

Understand the potential causes of failure

There are a number of areas cited as the most common causes of data centre failure:

• Environmental problems
• Software failure – for example, memory leaks
• Hardware failure – such as storage or processing problems
• Operator or procedural error
• Poor network reliability
• Security breaches – for example hacker attack

Environmental considerations

When planning a data centre, there are a number of physical and architectural design features which must be implemented to ensure reliability:

• Adequate Air Supply: temperature must be maintained between 20 and 25 ºC and humidity between 40 and 60 %. Too much humidity can cause water to condense on internal components. However if the air is too dry, this can cause static electricity to discharge. Malfunction is likely if the above ranges are not maintained. This is one of the prime causes of data centre malfunction. Implementation of adequate air conditioning and correct architectural design to allow for air circulation between units is vital. Particular care needs to be taken to prevent “hotspots” from occurring.

• Safeguard against power loss: external environmental factors such as hurricane or snowstorm can cause power black outs. It is vital to have a generator to ensure continued function, as well as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for emergency power. These should be of sufficient size to power cooling systems.

• Fire protection systems: the simplest forms of fire protection are smoke detectors, for early detection of a fire. It is also vital to ensure fire containment to prevent the spread of a fire to the entire data centre. For example: Contained sprinkler systems or gaseous fire suppression.

Software, hardware or network failure

Tested and quality assured hardware and software from reputable brands can help increase reliability. Common malfunction in one component, such as an internal fan or storage disc, can quickly lead to failure in another. Ensuring network performance and reliability can also have a huge impact on the performance of the data system.

Operational procedures

It is impossible to completely rule out human error and operational issues. However, devising an operations procedure to not only maximize performance but also track reliability and malfunction is key. Conduct regular back-ups on each production server to ensure quick file repair in the event of damage. Provide adequate operator training to implement protocol and avoid the most basic of errors such as leaving discs in drives, which would prevent an auto-reboot in the event of system failure.

Data security

Particularly important in large data centres with sensitive information, is to ensure adequate physical security. Corporations may consider outsourcing their data centre to an off-site location with 24 hour security guards and video surveillance. System security also requires keeping up-to-date with the latest security and anti-virus software.

Avoid single point of failure

One final key consideration is to avoid having a single point of failure. Test the system before it goes operational and ensure that if one component fails there is sufficient backup to ensure the data centre can still function. Back-up will make sure that your important data is never lost.

Our company is SAS 70 certified… the highest standards for measuring and improving data centre operations and management. Providing clients with solutions for business continuity services, managed hosting, managed security and disaster recovery for organizational security.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amy_Nutt

In particular, the Auditor General said that the security policy doesn’t include a disaster recovery plan.

Even if you work in a company you can expect that auditors are going to look for a disaster recovery policy and disaster recovery plan in your corporate security policy.

Topics covered in the presentation include:

• Definitions
• Why Have a Plan?
• Statistics
• Getting Your BCP Plan Started & Sold
• Getting the BCP Approved
• Building the BCP
• Business Impact Analysis
• Risk Assessment
• Risk Management
• Risk Monitoring
• Insurance Integration
• What Are the Cost Issues?

Enjoy!