Data center and facility managers know the importance of planning. But KNOWING that something is important and actually DOING something about it are two different things all together. Do you have a business continuity plan that includes emergency cooling for mission critical equipment?
No worries if you answered a frustrated "NO" to my question.
Or maybe you thought to yourself, "What the heck is a business continuity plan?"
The ever-prepared folks at Technical Response Planning have put together a fantastic business continuity template that will help you create a plan to minimize downtime and ensure your facility has the resources at hand to weather any disaster and operate during the restoration phase until full productivity is restored. The Technical Response Planning gurus say it best...
"In business, every threat may result in the same consequence: the loss or temporary cessation of key business processes. Business continuity management is a planning process that assists in managing the risks that may threaten a company’s survival. A business continuity plan should be applied to every business, small or large, to provide a framework to ensure operational resilience in the event of any disruption."
The size of your business really doesn't matter. Big or small, you need a business continuity plan. Doesn't matter if you manage a world-class data center or a server room -- if your "mission critical" equipment isn't operational then you are out of business!
Many small businesses may only have a server or two that do all the computing. But if that server isn't working or, worse yet, the data is destroyed, then your business may soon be out of business!
Take it from me. We learned the hard way. We have a small server room that houses a couple of servers, routers, switches and our phone equipment. Our server room is certainly not anything like Google's sea water cooled data center but it is the heart beat of our business. If it ain't working, we ain't working!
So go on and get started. Draft your business continuity plan today. You'll be ready the next time disaster strikes. TRP's business continuity template will help you set up lists of emergency contacts and emergency service vendors. Be sure you have reliable service providers that can respond quickly with the equipment you need to restore your business processes.
AirPac is glad to help with your emergency cooling. Not sure how much spot cooling you need to stay up and running until the main air conditioner is repaired or replaced? Just click or call and we'll be glad to help.
