Colocation Solutions Featured Article

As any business leader located in the so-called “hurricane belt” can attest, business continuity – being able to sustain a business through an emergency situation – is always top of mind. Nevertheless, just as the storm swoops in from the sea, many businesses find themselves “at sea,” never having planned for the dreaded “what if?” scenario.

 

The first rule any business continuity expert will tell you is that advanced planning is mandatory. In fact, 60 percent of companies nationwide have had reasons warranting updates to their business continuity plans; only 28 percent have done so, according to AT&T (News - Alert) 2008 Business Continuity Study.  Further, two out of three IT executives have set target recovery times for key business processes and one quarter of IT executives have had problems with insufficient storage for virtual records in the past year.

 

When the power shuts down, it clearly is not an ideal time to scramble for business alternatives, with vital services being compromised and evacuations are increasing. Just as fire drills are done regularly to protect people and property, testing business continuity plans protect the integrity of business operations. This requires a cross-organization plan that also extends outward geographically, should the disaster affect centers of operation in other regions – perhaps even other countries.

 

A solid plan does three things: protects the safety of employees and property; ensures that critical business functions continue uninterrupted; and that network infrastructure is available, whether that be your own or your fail-safe system.

 

Once you have a plan, simulations and trigger points – when to escalate to the next phase of your crisis plan – are important to know that your plan is workable. For instance, one result of your simulation exercise will point out the need for increased virtual office work and therefore increased demand on virtual private networks.

 

Naturally, in South Florida for example, hurricanes and severe tropical storms are the most top-of-mind emergencies most businesses think of when contemplating worst-case scenarios. But the recent pandemics like the one that wreaked havoc in Mexico, could just as easily spark a crisis plan. When planning for disaster recovery, it’s important to contemplate the nature of the emergency, industry experts say. Sometimes vastly different priorities will emerge depending on the nature of the compromise to people and processes.

 

Collocation experts Telx help hundreds of businesses in the Hurricane Belt to disaster-proof operations using its Miami data center. By providing unassailable redundancy – and network connections to virtually anywhere in the world – Telx comes closest to a turnkey disaster recovery partner, company officials say.

 

The Telx data center, located in downtown Miami, was designed and built specifically to withstand Category 5 hurricanes. In fact, the city has endured an onslaught of hurricanes, including Hurricane Rita in 2005, a Category 5 hurricane with 180 mile-per-hour winds. The building is outside the Federal Emergency Management Administration 100-year designated flood zone and outside the Miami-Dade evacuation path, making it readily accessible to those who need to get there during times of adversity. Telx offers workspace to key personnel who will shepherd your business during those tempestuous hours, which is likely the best course of action even when your own workspace has not succumbed to problems.

 

Ideally situated to provide a gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean, Telx in Miami is flanked by the largest concentration of international banks in the entire U.S. But collocation in any one of Telx’s 15 strategic data centers, assures that your business is connected to the rest of the world.

 

Telx offers a second southeastern U.S. option for business continuity and disaster recovery planning: its company owned its owned building and facilities in Atlanta, Ga. As the Southeast’s largest concentration of telecommunications companies, the facility offers one of the leading interconnection points between New York and Florida. Additionally, the Telx Internet Exchange and Virtual Xchange services available in Atlanta increase the interconnection possibilities at a fraction of the typical connection cost. And with large footprints, above-average redundancy and power backups, the facility is a solid choice both as a stand-alone BC/DR facility or as a back-up to Telx’s Miami facility, according to company officials.

 

By collocating your network and vital applications is to take a giant step forward in business continuity planning. The Telx center can become your hub of business activity because it connects to every major carrier, major application service providers and much more within its state-of-the-art center. Its vendor-neutrality and dedicated Internet access assures numerous carrier options and “always-on” access.

 

Even in the best of times, storage capabilities can challenge any dynamic enterprise. Telx offers backup and recovery data storage services with TelxVault, making it a “fair weather friend” to business as an automated data back-up partner and the vital link during any disaster.