Tag: Disaster

Data Center   Disaster Recovery   Latest 0 comments on Do you have dedicated disaster recovery office space?

Do you have dedicated disaster recovery office space?

A critical component of any business continuity plan is a convenient, reliable and secure contingency work site.

In the event of a disaster, relocating people and operations is crucial to getting a business back up and running as soon as possible.

Does that sound like you?

The last thing you want is to be caught in a bad weather disaster and not have a plan in place.

Here are a few top benefits to look for when searching for disaster recovery office space.

A secure site

Are you located in an area prone to hurricanes, tornados or other severe weather?

Look for a hurricane- and tornado-proof facility that is secure and reliable.

How many generators provide emergency power?

Are there strong data connections — which are needed in an emergency situation?

Disaster recovery office space must take into account what their surrounding area will look like when severe weather hits. Will you be able to access the facility if there’s heavy debris, ice, or snowstorms?

Room to grow

How many square feet of space is available to you?

Can you scale the space as your business grows?

Looking to the future is important for physical space. It’s not just about what you need now, but what your growth projections are for the next 5-10 years.

Reliable partner

Can you buy space that is dedicated to you and use it when it’s needed?

Does the partner offer blended internet options for your team?

What does the redundant power and generator maintenance schedule look like?

Can the space support your backup needs and remote workers?

A reliable partner looks out for your best interests. They should be offering you ideas and making the space fit you, not the other way around.

Options for work-from-home or remote workers

Disaster recovery office space isn’t just for corporate offices.

When working from home, if your power or internet goes out, you can’t do any work at all.

A disaster recovery office space allows those who work from home a backup in case they lose services.

This can be used not just for emergencies, but for power failures, construction that knocks out internet lines in the area, or any other event.

FIBERTOWN work area recovery offerings

Different businesses have different Work Area Recovery (WAR) needs.

FIBERTOWN disaster recovery customers have access to comfortable workspaces including desks and tables with voice and data capabilities, conference and meeting rooms, 24×7 security and secure access via card readers or biometrics.

100% up-time for business-critical systems

FIBERTOWN offers fully redundant, secure and reliable data centers to keep your business-critical systems available 100% of the time. As a colocation provider, the range of disaster recovery solutions is nearly unlimited.

You can use FIBERTOWN as your primary & secondary sites, only secondary sites, hot or tape back-up, and for Highly Available (HA) fail-over.

We can help you configure your systems in the way that is most efficient and appropriate for your disaster recovery needs.

Data Center   Disaster Recovery   Disaster Recovery Weekly   Latest 0 comments on 4 Key Facility Areas to Prepare for Winter Weather

4 Key Facility Areas to Prepare for Winter Weather

As January winds down, cold spells continue to march across the country.

It begs the question: Are you prepared for the late arrival of winter?

Winter weather has now arrived in full force around the Gulf Coast and Southeastern US, and some are having flashbacks to Winter Storm Uri and the subsequent freezes.

Is your facility prepared for any winter weather that comes your way?

Here are our top four concerns to be prepared for as winter rolls on.

Be prepared for whatever winter brings

While there’s no guarantees with weather — it’s best to be prepared for anything. If you haven’t already, check on these important areas of concern.

  1. The potential for severe weather as cold fronts move through. Are you prepared for severe weather to impact your power supply? What emergency plans does your facility have in place today? Make sure you’ve removed debris and secured any stored material in preparation for high winds.
  2. Back-up generator maintenance. Are your battery and charging systems ready for a 30-degree temperature swing overnight? Do you have block heaters operational to keep engines ready to start during cold weather? Are your coolant systems at appropriate mixture/levels to survive a hard freeze?
  3. Cooling and HVAC systems. Are your chillers and chilled water systems insulated and freeze protected? Make sure your humidifiers are operational and prepared to add humidity. The goal here is to prevent static electricity from low relative humidity as cold, dry air dominates. What about your rooftop systems and drain/plumbing; are they freeze protected?
  4. Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). Are your UPS well maintained and ready to support a critical load? For example; during an unplanned utility outage or generator issue?

Plan for the worst

We get it — investing money in “precautions” and planning for the “what-ifs” sounds like a lot of dollar signs on the chance of a possibility.

But, trust us, you do not want to be on the other end, wishing that you had been prepared.

Did you know the average cost of downtime can be up to $11,600 per minute? That can really add up quickly.

In winter weather, temperatures can go from 80 degrees to 30 degrees in less than 12 hours.

At FIBERTOWN, you can be sure that we are always prepared for the worst. Our customers depend on it.

Do you have a backup plan?

Putting your emergency plans down on paper ensures that everything goes smoothly when you need to activate it. And make sure everyone has access to the plans — in an offline environment.

Year-long diligence with preventative maintenance will help prevent failures when unplanned outages occur.

For you and your employees – prevent a bad day from getting worse! If your company is working from home, what is the plan if the internet goes out?

FIBERTOWN is prepared with disaster recovery office space should you need it. Contact us today to chat about specs and your needs. We’re here to help!

Data Center   Disaster Recovery   Latest 0 comments on What Texas Businesses Learned from Winter Storm Uri

What Texas Businesses Learned from Winter Storm Uri

As many in Texas contend with the fallout of Winter Storm Uri, including physical cleanup, insurance claims, rebuilding, and recovering, business readiness is a hot topic in boardrooms.

Data Center Dynamics reports, “People who aren’t necessarily in a datacenter or power generation industry, are talking about the grid, they’re talking about batteries, they’re talking about generators, they’re wanting to make sure that this does not happen again,” said Bill Kleyman, Executive Vice President of Digital Solutions at Switch.

When power matters

As a result of the winter storm, rolling blackouts caused outages across the state, leaving 4.5 million businesses and homes without power.

More than 100 people died during Winter Storm Uri, most from hypothermia. Carbon monoxide poisoning, vehicle crashes, and fires, and medical equipment failure were other causes of death, said the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Business operations tried to switch to diesel backup, but some organizations struggled, including Florida health care provider Availity, which lost its data center for 11 hours, and Austin’s city data center, which also suffered downtime.

More than ever, partnering with a data center that is prepared for any weather-related disaster is imperative to successful operations and customer satisfaction.

Past winter storms

The National Weather Service reports that damages from the weeklong cold snap could surpass that from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and could be the most costly weather disaster in state history.

Other recent winter weather systems to hit Texas include:

  • Storms in February 2011 that dropped 5-8 inches of snow from Dallas Love Field to Emory, Sulphur Springs, Mineola, and Mount Pleasant.
  • March 2010 storms moved across the Red River Valley, eventually dumping 5 to 9 inches of snow across Collin County.
  • February 2010 storms brought record-breaking snowfall across North Central Texas. This very unusual event brought totals of a foot or more for many locations around the DFW Metroplex. Haslet reported 14.4 inches, while DFW Airport had a record-breaking 12.5 inches in 24 hours.

Read more from the National Weather Service about significant winter weather and storms that have hit Texas, including the first recorded white Christmas in 1841.

The 2021 hurricane season in the U.S.

As the winter weather starts to fade, spring weather also brings hurricane season to the minds of Texas residents.

With Hurricane Harvey still affecting families and businesses, time marches on to the next season. The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season is predicted to be more active than usual.

Predictions released by the Colorado State University Tropical Meteorology Project suggest that this year’s season will consist of 17 named storms, eight hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

A major hurricane is one that is Category 3 or higher (115-plus-mph winds) on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

Business lessons learned

As a business, you never want to be reactive.

If you’re reacting to a situation after the fact, there’s no telling the dollar amount that a weather event has already taken on your bottom line.

Preparing your business for the hurricane season takes intention and a hard look at current processes.

The most important advice we recommend: Be ready for the worst, so you won’t be caught off guard.

You’d much rather have happy customers who are thankful that you planned and kept all your systems online than the opposite.