flooded, the adjacent buildings flooded as well. This created a disastrous domino effect that either damaged or completely destroyed computer rooms. Years of tape and data storage of medical research were lost.

In this instance, inadequate preparation caused data recovery to be expensive or impossib

New technologies and recent storm reports have forced many companies to review disaster recovery plans and data protection policies.

Hurricanes striking the Gulf Coast and Eastern seashore have a significant impact on the businesses operating in their path. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have IT managers and company owners all over the United States evaluating or creating disaster recovery plans. They recognize the need to be prepared for what would otherwise be a devastating scenario.

Many companies that were very diligent in protecting their data to tape or disk onsite found their offsite protection was inadequate. Some had a total data loss as a direct consequence of a natural disaster. An example of this occurred in Houston, when Tropical Storm Allison hit in June 2001. The threat this storm posed was widely dismissed. No one foresaw the disastrous impact it would have on Houston businesses. During the height of the storm, the basements of many corporate, governmental and medical buildings flooded. The basements of these buildings housed power equipment, computer mainframes, and data storage for medical research. Many of these basements were connected by tunnels and walkways, so when one basement flooded, the adjacent buildings flooded as well. This created a disastrous domino effect that either damaged or completely destroyed computer rooms. Years of tape and data storage of medical research were lost.

In this instance, inadequate preparation caused data recovery to be expensive or impossib

s and company owners all over the United States evaluating or creating disaster recovery plans. They recognize the need to be prepared for what would otherwise be a devastating scenario.

Many companies that were very diligent in protecting their data to tape or disk onsite found their offsite protection was inadequate. Some had a total data loss as a direct consequence of a natural disaster. An example of this occurred in Houston, when Tropical Storm Allison hit in June 2001. The threat this storm posed was widely dismissed. No one foresaw the disastrous impact it would have on Houston businesses. During the height of the storm, the basements of many corporate, governmental and medical buildings flooded. The basements of these buildings housed power equipment, computer mainframes, and data storage for medical research. Many of these basements were connected by tunnels and walkways, so when one basement flooded, the adjacent buildings flooded as well. This created a disastrous domino effect that either damaged or completely destroyed computer rooms. Years of tape and data storage of medical research were lost.

In this instance, inadequate preparation caused data recovery to be expensive or impossib

ion was inadequate. Some had a total data loss as a direct consequence of a natural disaster. An example of this occurred in Houston, when Tropical Storm Allison hit in June 2001. The threat this storm posed was widely dismissed. No one foresaw the disastrous impact it would have on Houston businesses. During the height of the storm, the basements of many corporate, governmental and medical buildings flooded. The basements of these buildings housed power equipment, computer mainframes, and data storage for medical research. Many of these basements were connected by tunnels and walkways, so when one basement flooded, the adjacent buildings flooded as well. This created a disastrous domino effect that either damaged or completely destroyed computer rooms. Years of tape and data storage of medical research were lost.

In this instance, inadequate preparation caused data recovery to be expensive or impossib

ing the height of the storm, the basements of many corporate, governmental and medical buildings flooded. The basements of these buildings housed power equipment, computer mainframes, and data storage for medical research. Many of these basements were connected by tunnels and walkways, so when one basement flooded, the adjacent buildings flooded as well. This created a disastrous domino effect that either damaged or completely destroyed computer rooms. Years of tape and data storage of medical research were lost.

In this instance, inadequate preparation caused data recovery to be expensive or impossib

flooded, the adjacent buildings flooded as well. This created a disastrous domino effect that either damaged or completely destroyed computer rooms. Years of tape and data storage of medical research were lost.

In this instance, inadequate preparation caused data recovery to be expensive or impossible. Many of the organizations affected by this disaster have made changes to their infrastructure and disaster recovery plans. Moving centralized computer systems and emergency power backup equipment out of the basements was a starting point. Most of these organizations have also incorporated remote data backup into their disaster recovery plan. Several of these high profile stories were from large Fortune 500 companies that have money and resources to recover from a disaster. Small and medium businesses must plan ahead if they are to survive a site disaster.

Here are some things to think about when putting together a disaster recovery plan. It is by no means a comprehensive list; each business has its unique requirements:

1. Prioritize your business needs and identify each class of data. Determine which services need to be restored immediately and which ones are less critical.
• Mission Critical
• Business Critical
• Operationally important
2. Once you've established the relative priority of your business applications you need to determine your recovery objectives for each category of data.
• Recovery Time Objective (RTO) - The time ob