Implementing cloud computing as part of your disaster recovery and business continuity strategy

The loss of property and productivity from Hurricane Sandy was staggering. On November 26, mayor Bloomberg's office estimated storm-related public and private losses have totaled $19 billion. Flooding, mass transit interruptions, and power outages in the five boroughs - including a complete blackout to the entire of Manhattan below 39th St. - displaced families from their homes and kept millions of workers from reporting to work for at least a week after the storm. As companies rebuild after the storm, they are provided with an opportunity to consider cloud computing as part of their business continuance and disaster recovery strategies. There has been a steady stream of information regarding IT successes from the cloud in the aftermath of the storm. Power outages and loss of voice/data circuit connectivity kept thousands of organizations with conventional, premise-based IT from accessing their business applications and information for extended periods of time, while those with cloud computing strategies had greater access. Several cloud data centers in New York City were able to maintain power via generator and battery backup until utility power was restored on Friday, November 2. Cloud providers with redundant carrier circuits afforded their customers access to cloud hosted voice and data applications from locations that had not lost services due to the storm. Cloud computing provides the safety and high availability of a secure, redundantly-powered Network Operations Center (NOC) to store and deliver data and business applications on demand over an Internet connection. Applications such as VMware's virtual desktop interface (VDI) VMware View deliver reliable and secure desktop computing to end users at any location. By logging in through any device, users can enjoy the productivity and personalization of their own desktop anywhere. During VMware View remote sessions, IT policy and data protection is maintained in the cloud. Virtual desktop applications have become popular, cost-effective models for both tele-working and business continuance strategies. Automated back-up in the cloud has increased in relevance as part of disaster recovery strategies, in large part due to the efficiencies it introduces over fragmented and often ineffective legacy practices of distributed tape devices, manual routines, and off-site tape storage. The impact of Hurricane Sandy emphasizes the need for businesses to move away from older policies for data back-up; consider the expenses incurred and the loss of time involved to those that needed to hire specialists to recover data from servers and tapes that were damaged in the storm. Cloud back-up solutions can be configured to provide a mirror-image of a company's data and business applications, with replication processes being performed as frequently as up to the minute. In the event that access to data is interrupted due to loss of power in the workplace, replicated files on cloud-based servers can be recovered and accessed over a secure Internet connection. The impact of a "super storm" on IT cannot be predicted with 100% certainty. Any disaster that leaves both office and worker without utilities on both ends will result in some form of business interruption. In the instance of Hurricane Sandy, however, businesses that had implemented cloud computing as part of their disaster recovery and business continuity strategies experienced a smoother transition to continuance of operations during the cleanup. John Allegro is director of marketing for BBH Solutions, Inc., New York, N.Y.