Posts

Tropical Storm Karen Tests Data Center Disaster Plans

/in /by

Disaster recovery has been at the forefront of attention in recent years, as one disaster after another impacts cities around the world. Tsunamis, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes all have the power to disable a business’s operations for months…if they aren’t prepared.

In the few days Hurricane Karen threatened the Gulf Coast, data centers began bracing for impact. Fortunately, the storm weakened before it could do any damage, giving residents a reprieve. But even if this hurricane season passes without incident, the brief threat served as a reminder that data centers must be prepared at all times.

Most businesses who trust their server operations to managed service providers (MSPs) can rest easily. According to MSPMentor, 91 percent of all MSPs provider backup and disaster recovery services to clients. Whether you have your own IT department or outsource operations to a trusted provider, in the wake of the Tropical Storm Karen threat, it’s important to do a thorough review of your server operations to determine your data will be safe if Mother Nature focuses her attention on your area. Here are a few must-haves for your server operations.

Daily Backups

For the ultimate protection, your data should be backed up each day, with backups housed at multiple data centers. Your servers should offload your data to offsite servers housed in at least one other location, preferably far away from the first data center. If a hurricane takes out the entire East Coast, for instance, your second data center should be located on the west coast or the center of the U.S. This multiple-server system is called “redundancy.”

Access from Anywhere

One benefit to redundancy is that you’ll be able to be brought back up within minutes of a disaster happening. For this reason, your data should be accessible from outside of your firewall to those workers who will need access. For businesses using MSPs, this means choosing a Cloud-based solution, but for those with dedicated servers, this likely means VPN accounts. This access should be tested regularly to ensure it’s still available.

Website Backup

As you do a thorough disaster recovery check, don’t forget your website. What will be the downtime on it in the event of a disaster?

All businesses should have a disaster recovery plan in place that includes temporary workspace and key personnel who will answer phones during the disaster. When combined with data center services that promise continued operations, your business will be covered in the event disaster should strike.

How 10-Core Processors will Change the Face of Business

/in /by

The announcement that Intel and AMD were debuting 10-core processors was met with excitement from the IT industry. But the general population shrugged it off, assuming it wouldn’t mean much until time to buy a new PC. What many businesses don’t realize, however, is that AMD processors relate more to how technology functions as a whole, powering the servers that run a business’s applications and house vital data.

Since many businesses now rely on Cloud services, this means the improvement may be felt much sooner, since managed service providers know the importance of running the latest technology at all times. Intel’s and AMD’s 10-core processors will be initially targeted at high-end data centers that house massive databases, addressing the current need that has resulted from an increasing reliance on Big Data and more demanding applications and databases.

But for end users, the question is whether or not this power will be harnessed in the devices they use every day. While 10-core processors promise dynamic power adjustment to reduce power consumption in data centers, multiple-core processors have traditionally been problematic for devices relying on battery power. But Intel has dedicated itself to finding a way to provide power in mobile devices without draining those devices’ batteries. Intel envisions a multi-core mobile chip that will divide the work among each core to improve energy efficiency.

Despite the emergence of mobile devices, however, many businesses are still running desktop and laptop PCs, making the next logical question, “Are 10-core processors for us?” As Intel’s E7 processor becomes an option for businesses, the extra expense will likely only be necessary for those workers conducting high-end tasks, such as extracting statistical data and developing software applications.

But many businesses will not know how 10-core processors have directly impacted the work they do every day. The Cloud-based services they access, the statistical data they rely on to make decisions, and the website they present to the world will all eventually be powered by 10-core technology that provides reliable, lightning-fast access to improve operations.