Google Apps now disaster-proof

Google Apps, the software-as-a-service collaborative productivity suite, is now fully disaster-proof and ready to instantly restore data lost in the event of a catastrophe, reports MSPmentor.

The search giant is now replicating e-mail, documents, and anything else across several of its data centres worldwide.

This means is that it's virtually impossible, even in the worst case scenario, for data to vanish, and it's included in the base cost of a Google Apps deployment, potentially saving enterprises big bucks on costly storage area network (SAN) solutions.

Underscoring the need for business continuity in times of crisis, IT equipment vendor HP has unveiled its line of StorageWorks XP disc arrays, which feature disaster-proof makeup that enable businesses to go on despite calamitous circumstances, states IDG.

"Disasters can cripple and even kill companies," says Chris Powers, director, XP business unit, HP. "Disaster recovery [systems] are therefore important, especially in times when power is lost or when earthquakes and typhoons strike."

The age-old practice of mirroring data centres, according to Powers, doesn't ensure that businesses are going to continue operations when systems fail. "You don't want to go through manual intensive process of mapping everything across your data centre [after recovery]," he explains.

ABI Research forecasts that the global market for business continuity and disaster data recovery solutions will grow from $24.3 billion in 2009 to exceed $39 billion in 2015, writes Sys-con Media.

“As a result of their growing reliance on electronic data and the need for backup, storage and security, industries such as financial services and healthcare now operate under federal mandates requiring them to have disaster recovery and business continuity programmes in place,” says ABI Research director Larry Fisher.

“In many other industries, such programmes are not legally required, but savvy companies always prepare for the worst,” he adds.