Cloud addresses need for better disaster recovery
1 min read
As cyber hacking proliferates, business users need to recognise the need for highly secure data systems that go beyond the capabilities of increasingly outdated disaster recovery tools.
So says Andrew Gilbert, managing director of Node4 and winner of the 2011 European Data Centre Entrepreneur of the Year award, who is urging manufacturers to go back to basics.
He points to International Data Corporation reports – which estimate that for every hour of downtime, companies lose an average of £52,000 – and to Gartner, which says that, despite such losses, only 35% of SMEs have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan in place.
Gilbert believes that not enough emphasis is given to the importance of having a sound disaster recovery plan in an age where data security is constantly compromised by cyber hacking incidents.
"Companies have failed to realise the potentially paralysing effects that they could face, due to hacker-induced downtime, and there is a greater need to explore more secure alternatives when faced with increasingly sophisticated attacks," he insists.
Gilbert is proposing that cloud computing be considered as a valid disaster recovery tool, arguing that it plays to the strengths of cloud providers, in terms of data security. He cites, for example, the power of disaster recovery management through online data storage and remote backup solutions for mission-critical data on servers that are not located on-site.
"The interests of companies are best served through access to a number of regional data centres, and with the private cloud opening a multitude of horizons for data security, cloud computing is becoming an increasingly important disaster recovery tool," states Gilbert.
"Online backup storage in the cloud is a much safer option, because it allows customers access to critical, real-time data no matter where they are – and companies like Node4 continually invest in the latest and best security and backup solutions so customers don't have to."
His view: companies backing up their data onto on-premise physical servers run the risk of losing their original and backup data in the event of a disaster. However, a company with cloud-based data can access its data as long as connectivity exists, be it fixed line or mobile.
Using virtualisation technology, servers can be virtualised and companies have the ability to back up entire servers off-site, thereby minimising their risks.
