Johannesburg, 29 Feb 2012
AVBOB recently became a ContinuitySA client, and performed its first annual disaster recovery test using the ContinuitySA Midrand data centre in early December 2011. With offices situated in the Pretoria central business district, using the Gautrain to transport key personnel to the centre seemed like a logical choice.
“In the past, we've always had to transport the key staff used for the test in vehicles to the disaster recovery site,” says Willie van der Berg, project leader: financial systems at AVBOB. “To beat the traffic, we typically left early in the morning, and we had to limit the number of people we could take.”
By contrast, a full team of key staff was able to participate in this test. Employees came to work at the normal time and used the Gautrain bus to travel the short distance to the Pretoria station. Twenty minutes later, they were met by transport arranged by ContinuitySA and AVBOB at the Midrand station, and taken to the disaster recovery centre.
The staff were divided into two groups, each travelling on a different train, to enhance security.
On arrival, the AVBOB team was pleased to find desks ready and waiting, and the AVBOB environment running on the computers. By midday, they had completed the test and were making the reverse trip.
Van der Berg says the Gautrain experience was excellent. The staff enjoyed the ease and speed of the journey, while the company valued the opportunity to move the full disaster recovery team in relative safety.
“Putting all your key personnel in one vehicle for a road trip is quite a risk in itself,” comments Van der Berg. “It's also a highly productive solution because you don't have valuable people tied up in traffic! We'll definitely be factoring the Gautrain into our disaster plans.”
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