Disaster Recovery

Hurricane Season is Coming…Are You Ready?

No one likes to think about hurricane destruction. But it’s a real consideration in the Texas Upper Gulf Coast region. As we say, “Plan now. Be ready later.”

Our disaster recovery center allows you to do just that! FIBERTOWN is more than a data center. We help companies prepare their employees and equipment before disaster strikes.

Hurricane season officially begins June 1^st in Texas. Are you prepared?

FIBERTOWN’s Disaster Recovery Center

What does it mean to be a data center and a disaster recovery (DR) center? As a data center, we provide redundant power and cooling for hardware and blended bandwidth with multiple entries into the facility. And we maintain a 100% uptime SLA on it all!

As a DR center, we take things even a step further. FIBERTOWN becomes your hub if your infrastructure is affected by disaster. Below are common questions (with answers!) to highlight some of the ways we serve when a crisis occurs.

People and Work

>> What happens when my remote workers lose power/internet at home? Where do they go?

If you’re a DR center client, your team, whether they’re on-premises or remote employees, have a place to work at our business continuity offices.

>> But do we share space with others on a first come, first served basis?

No, FIBERTOWN dedicates a space for your business, and it’s always ready for your team to work there. In this article about our dedicated work space, we give multiple reasons why your company should consider adding office space to your DR plan. In a nutshell, we’re not a co-working space, and our workspace is backed up just like our data center! Our infrastructure is designed to withstand disaster.

>> What kind of customer service do you provide during times of crisis?

We’re staffed with a knowledgeable team 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. As an example of our service, during Winter Storm Uri, the team from Centennial Arts, a website development firm, reached out in desperation as they’d lost power to their facility. They provide hosting services and wanted to mitigate any downtime for their clients. Within 24 hours of contacting us, our professional staff had them with up and running! Read more here.

>> Also, what about my family?

We maintain a list of nearby hotels and are here to make everything as easy as possible. Plus, there is a Subway on our block that’s backed up by our generator!

>> What if roads are closed due to downed lines and trees?

We chose locations for our data centers in Houston and Bryan-College Station because they can be accessed multiple ways. Route diversity is critical when selecting a data center and DR center.

Backup Power and Connectivity

>>We already have a backup generator. Why do we need yours?

Here’s the follow-up question we often ask in this situation – When did you last run your backup generator or conduct scheduled maintenance? Because our clients rely on a 100% uptime SLA, our backup generators are not an afterthought. We test ours regularly and perform routine maintenance. Read more here about our other preventative maintenance measures.

>>What about power, cooling, and connectivity backups?

Remember, our success as a data center is contingent on our ability to have power, cooling, and network connectivity when others don’t. We have backups to our backups! It’s worth repeating – We’re not a co-working space. We’re a data center with a DR center available to clients. Our buildings and the infrastructure within them were designed to withstand disasters.

FIBERTOWN is Ready for Hurricane Season

As you consider worst-case scenarios for your business, also consider a call with us. While we’re an optimistic company (been around for more than 25 years – lots to be happy about!), we believe in preparation.

With hurricane season approaching, we encourage you to ask yourself the questions above, plus the ones here. All are important to consider so your business and team keep moving forward, even when disaster strikes.

If you have more questions or don’t know how to start a DR plan, reach out. We can help! Contact us here.

Is Your Generator Reliable? Do You Have Backup Power?

On Sunday night, November 27th, Houston residents received a boil water notice. A water purification plant in the city had experienced a brief power disruption, causing water pressure to drop below the minimum requirement of 20 PSI. This drop in pressure is what caused officials to give the boil water notice as a precaution for residents.

State and local entities worked with guidance from the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality to lift the boil water notice about 40 hours later. And for that we’re grateful.

A Cautionary Tale…

This article is not intended to put down an organization. (In fact, we commend the quick, safe approach by the Houston authorities and greatly appreciate their efforts.) Instead, this article is a cautionary tale about backup power for all businesses.

We ask these serious questions.

Are the generators at your on-premise data center and/or office building reliable?
Do you have redundant power?
Are there plans in place if you lose power?
What service outages would your customers experience if you lost power completely for 2 minutes? 15 minutes? For an hour?
How much revenue would you lose? Are lives at stake if you lose power?
What damages would your hardware experience with a power loss?

You Don’t Have to Have All of the Answers

Truthfully, just typing the questions above makes our hearts beat rapidly. The ramifications of an outage for a company without backup power are expensive, time-consuming, and can cost human lives.

Power redundancy (i.e., having multiple sources of power) is a serious consideration for companies. Redundancy means reliability and peace of mind. And it’s for these reasons that clients choose a data center like FIBERTOWN.

It’s our job to have and maintain utility and generator power for your hardware. (We go into more detail about the traits of a top-rated data center in this article).

FIBERTOWN Can Keep You Up and Running

We have two data centers – one in Houston and one in Bryan-College Station. These data centers are fitted with redundant power and cooling systems. Backup generators are on site, and they are manned by IT professionals 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

We’ll keep your company’s hardware up and running, even if the world outside is without power.

Ask us how we do this! We’d love to tell you more.

Complete the contact form to begin a conversation.

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3 Ways FIBERTOWN Prepares Customers for Possible Blackouts

Due to the scorcher in Texas this summer, people and businesses have faced water and energy restrictions.

Hot temperatures place a strain on the electric grid, and electricity issues, in turn, affect your computer hardware. And when servers are interrupted, business comes to a halt.

In this article, we outline three ways FIBERTOWN helps businesses stay running, even when facing hot temperatures and rolling blackouts.

FIBERTOWN Offers Redundant Power and Cooling

FIBERTOWN is a one-stop shop, a single-source solution. We’re a data center with two locations – Houston and Bryan, Texas. And as a data center, we provide redundant power, cooling, and connectivity. With redundancy, you have a backup plan. And that means your business is not vulnerable when rolling (or unexpected!) blackouts occur.

In July 2022, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (or ERCOT) issued warnings of rolling blackouts expected for many Texans. The power grid was under strain. To prevent rolling blackouts from being necessary, though, the Council first asked citizens to not use large appliances between 2:00 and 9:00 pm and to adjust thermostats to 78 degrees on specified days.

Fortunately, these preventive measures conserved enough energy to make the rolling blackouts unnecessary (for now). But an important question remains – How would a rolling or unexpected blackout affect your business?

At FIBERTOWN, both data centers are equipped with a concurrently maintainable cooling configuration so the cooling system is always available. As for power, we have concurrently maintainable, redundant power as well, plus generators onsite.

While others are stressed about possible power outages, our customers are not.

Disaster Recovery Means Preparedness for You

We’re not just a data center. We’re a “disaster recovery and business continuity office space.”

At FIBERTOWN, we provide 100% uptime for business-critical systems, and that means fewer effects on your business in case of a disaster. And whether power outages are planned or are a result of disasters, our disaster recovery (DR) clients have access to a range of options. We can be your primary and secondary site, only secondary site, hot or tape backup and highly available (HA) failover. Plus, we have office space ready for your team to work if your location is without electricity.

Staying Connected

Another major concern with blackouts is network connectivity. Relying on only one provider to keep you connected may result in you being down during maintenance or an outage. FIBERTOWN offers our blended bandwidth.

This way, no matter what’s occurring with one or two carriers, you’re still connected. Furthermore, our multiple carriers enter our building via numerous points of entry. It’s redundancy on top of redundancy. And that’s the FIBERTOWN way.

FIBERTOWN Can Help

We want you cool-headed during blackouts and/or disasters. With our redundant systems, we ensure power, cooling, and connectivity for our clients. And this means business as usual for you…no matter the temperatures outside.

We’d love to tell you more about our services at FIBERTOWN. Complete this form to start the conversation.

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Why A Dedicated Office Space – As a Second Location – Is Critical

At FIBERTOWN, we’re known for our colocation services, and we’re proud of that. But, we also offer dedicated office spaces for businesses, and that makes us different from our competitors.

Below are reasons why you should consider a dedicated office and how FIBERTOWN helps you keep running, no matter what.

What is a Dedicated Office Space?

A dedicated office space is a second location for conducting business away for your main building or away from home (if you’re a remote-first company).

Also note, when we write “dedicated,” we mean office areas set aside – devoted, committed, reserved – for your business when you need it. Some data centers offer workspace, but the areas are first come, first serve. There’s no guarantee you’ll have a work area when needed.

At FIBERTOWN, though, we provide a dedicated office space…just for your company.

Direct Connection

So, why should you consider a dedicated office space inside a data center? A major reason is for a direct connection to your servers and other hardware. This access means lower latency, offering almost real-time access to your data.

Also, if you have large projects using your on-site equipment, no need to work on the floor. You work in your office at FIBERTOWN. And that’s much more comfortable!

Ready with Generators at FIBERTOWN

We’ve got your back. As in…backup generators.

A major plus for a dedicated office space inside a data center is for the backup systems already in place. Unlike most work spaces, we’ve already considered and PLANNED FOR a loss of electricity. (We offer 100% SLA uptime to our data center customers so power supply is crucial to our business.)

We can ensure full power for at least 24 hours for the whole facility. You’ll stay connected no matter what’s happening with the electrical grid.

Office Space During a Transition

The one constant in life is change. So, there’s a good chance that your company will change office buildings at least once in its lifespan. And when that change occurs, consider FIBERTOWN’s dedicated office space.

Our office space is ideal for leasing while you wait for your new building to be built or for the old one to be renovated. Or, perhaps you’re downsizing due to more work-from-home employees. Our office space is perfect for downsizing or working through a transition.

We offer both short-term and long-term leasing options.

Tape Storage Solution at FIBERTOWN

We love the Cloud like the next person! Heck, we offer Megaport so our colocation clients can access multiple cloud services with a single-entry point.

The Cloud is excellent for storing and accessing data 1-3 years old. But magnetic tapes are great long-term storage options. This is especially true for “cold” data that doesn’t need to be accessed often but, due to industry specific retention rules, is required to be saved. In fact, tapes can store large amounts of data for 30 years or more if cared for properly.

Rest assured, our buildings have security 24x7x365 and are temperature controlled, making our dedicated office space a perfect place for tape storage.

As a data center, our goal is to keep our clients’ servers and hardware up and running 100% of the time. Therefore, we have many systems in place to do this. To name a few – concurrent and redundant power, access to emergency fuel supply, fire monitoring, and backup generators on site.

To speak frankly, ordinary workspaces and office buildings are NOT designed like ours. Our buildings were created to withstand disasters. (Read more here about the specialized engineering required for our buildings.)

Your dedicated office space inside one of our two locations – Bryan, Texas and Houston, Texas – allows your employees to relocate during a disaster and keep business going.

Dedicated Office Space at FIBERTOWN

We offer office space for 2 to 200 people. We’re not just an office building; we’re a data center with offices to rent. That’s a big difference!

That means, we always have…security, personnel on staff, power, and internet connectivity. Normal office buildings cannot boast those things!

In fact, Brazos Valley Community Operations Center (CEOC) calls us its second home. Brazos CEOC is a multi-jurisdictional, emergency management organization that leases dedicated office space at FIBERTOWN. During COVID, Winter Storm Uri, and hurricanes, dozens of personnel relocated to FIBERTOWN and continued the important work of saving lives and sending resources. We’re proud of their work!

And we have room for more great organizations and businesses like yours.

Category: Disaster Recovery