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  • IT Best Practices - Business Continuity Spending: How Much Is Enough?

    Business Continuity Spending: How Much Is Enough?

    How much business continuity spending is appropriate for the level of risk an organization is willing to accept? In this study, we look at average spending on business continuity as a percentage of the IT budget. Because risks and compliance issues can vary widely from sector to sector, we break down spending by industry to provide more targeted metrics. We also analyze spending by organizational size and look at the change in spending levels from 2006 to 2007. Finally, we investigate how organizations rank disaster recovery improvements as a budgetary priority. (4 pp., 5 figs.)[Executive Summary]

    February, 2008

  • Research Bytes - Would Your DR Plan Survive a Katrina?

    Would Your DR Plan Survive a Katrina?

    This Research Byte is a summary of our full report, Disaster Recovery Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina, which outlines the challenges that a regional Katrina-size disaster presents to the disaster recovery planner. It also provides practical recommendations, based on government studies and current industry consensus, regarding the minimum and maximum distances and geographic considerations for locating the disaster recovery data center site.

    November, 2005

  • IT Best Practices - Disaster Recovery Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina

    Disaster Recovery Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina

    Katrina exposed a weakness in the disaster recovery plans of many organizations. In addition to providing a secondary data center to recover critical IT business systems, companies must also plan to relocate key IT support personnel and key users to administer those systems. This article outlines key considerations in preparing for a Katrina-level disaster and provides updated guidelines for the safe distance and location of the recovery data center. (5 pp., 1 fig.)[Executive Summary]

    November, 2005

  • Research Bytes - Backup Data Center: How Far Away Should It Be?

    Backup Data Center: How Far Away Should It Be?

    A client recently asked us how far a backup recovery data center should be from the primary site.  After researching industry and government standards, we had a surprising insight: it's possible to have a recovery site that's too far from the primary site.

    April, 2005

  • IT Best Practices - Data Center Recovery Site Planning: Geographic Considerations

    Data Center Recovery Site Planning: Geographic Considerations

    The U.S. federal government and private industry have developed new guidelines that can be helpful in deciding the optimal distance between the data center and its recovery site. Based on various studies conducted over the past few years, it is clear that the placement of a recovery site too far away from the main data center can be as much of a problem as placing it too close. This research report provides recommendations for the optimal distance, based on U.S. Federal Government guidelines, industry best practices, and the need to balance risk with speed of recovery. (5 pp. with footnotes of sources.)[Executive Summary]

    March, 2005

  • IT Staffing - Staffing the Contingency Planning Process (Sep 2002)

    Staffing the Contingency Planning Process (Sep 2002)

    IT systems are vulnerable to a variety of disruptions, ranging from mild to severe. Vulnerabilities may be minimized or eliminated through technical, management, or operational solutions as part of a risk management effort. Although it is virtually impossible to completely eliminate all risks, contingency planning is designed to mitigate the risk of system and service unavailability by focusing on effective and efficient recovery solutions.

    September, 2002