Iron Mountain Offers Advice to Companies as Hurricane Season Arrives
BOSTON, June 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As the hurricane season begins
this month, businesses should make sure to evaluate their data backup and
recovery procedures as part of their disaster recovery preparedness checklist.
For most businesses, without the data there is no recovery. Iron Mountain
offers these five important steps for preventing business critical data from
being destroyed by a natural disaster:
1. Make backup copies of all critical data. Companies need to ensure all
of their critical data is backed up -- not just primary servers and
the data center. Take an inventory of your business information. How
much information is sitting on remote servers and employee PCs and
laptops? Is that information backed-up as well?
2. Protect your backup data off-site. Data backup is just one facet of
data protection. When businesses fail to take their backup data off
site, they leave their data vulnerable to disaster at the office. Send
your backup data off-site to a trusted third-party that will ensure
you have your data when and where you need it. Many businesses have
their backup tapes transported to a secure off-site location, or they
employ online backup services that automate the process for them.
3. Have a disaster recovery plan and test it. Companies that regularly
test their disaster recovery plan are able to respond more effectively
in the event of a real disaster if they have anticipated and rehearsed
what they would need to do to recover their systems in another
location, practiced the escalation process and determined which tapes
are needed, where they should go, and how to have them delivered. With
regular testing of their plans, companies have "pre-made" decisions
that are more difficult to make during an actual crisis. And don't
forget to include the disaster recovery vendors when simulating events
-- you'll have a much better idea of how well they're prepared to
respond, especially if you test without giving prior notification.
4. Test your backup solution. Companies should conduct simple restore
tests with their backup solutions either weekly or after critical
events, like the closing of the quarterly books. Since there are
typically so many steps involved in the backup process, it is easy for
a simple mistake or oversight to prevent a successful restore.
Testing dramatically increases the likelihood of finding a problem
before it's too late.
5. Communicate early and often with your Disaster Recovery vendors. Have
you pre-arranged planning with your business partners and suppliers to
ensure that you can get what you need? Make sure you understand the
protocols for "declaring a disaster" with your off-site data
protection provider. Don't wait until after the disaster has occurred:
put them on alert and make sure they understand and can meet your
expected time window, and know where you want your recovery data
delivered when the "bell rings." In preparation of an impending
hurricane or storm, you can also ask your off-site data protection
vendor to move your data to a location further away to ensure speedier
delivery to a hot-site once you've declared a disaster.
For more tips and disaster recovery best practices, visit Iron Mountain's
knowledge center:
ttp://www.ironmountain.com/US/knowledge/protection/
About Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) helps organizations around the
world reduce the costs and risks associated with information protection and
storage. The Company offers comprehensive records management and data
protection solutions, along with the expertise and experience to address
complex information challenges such as rising storage costs, litigation,
regulatory compliance and disaster recovery. Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain is
a trusted partner to more than 90,000 corporate clients throughout North
America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit
the Company's Web site at http://www.ironmountain.com.
Contact:
Laura Sudnik
Iron Mountain
laura.sudnik@ironmountain.com
617-535-2907
Derek Delano / Sara Steindorf
Weber Shandwick
ddelano@webershandwick.com
ssteindorf@webershandwick.com
(617) 520-7120 / (617) 520-7259
SOURCE Iron Mountain
06/07/2006
CONTACT: Laura Sudnik of Iron Mountain, laura.sudnik@ironmountain.com,
+1-617-535-2907; or Derek Delano, +1-617-520-7120, ddelano@webershandwick.com,
or Sara Steindorf, +1-617-520-7259, ssteindorf@webershandwick.com, both of
Weber Shandwick
Web site: http://www.ironmountain.com
(IRM)