Outsourcing disaster recover heightens efficiency

Given the growing nature of IT risks for organisations, Abbas Taher, product manager for eHosting at eCompany made a compelling case for organisations to outsource their disaster recovery and business continuity services to a service provider, AME Info reports.

Speaking on the critical nature of disaster recovery for enterprises at the Financial Technology Summit and Exhibition 2006, held in Dubai recently, Taher said by outsourcing IT services, organisations can reap the benefits of initial investment reduction, less exposure to failure in terms of risk and higher efficiency and productivity.

According to an IDC analysis, organisations when outsourcing disaster recovery and business continuity can reduce their total cost of ownership by 24%, he said.

There is a growing demand for business continuity services in Bahrain, one driver being the Bahrain Monetary Agency requirement that all financial institutions keep records in off-site storage and the recommendation that they utilise disaster recovery facilities.

In response, Batelco recently opened Infort - a data centre located in Manama. Powered and run by Arabian Network Information Services, Infort offers local and regional organisations a secure environment to locate their mission critical data, reports Continuity Central.

Hope is not a strategy. Preparedness is. This is the theme of the summit to be held in Tampa, Florida from 31 May to 1 June. It is timed to coincide with the start of the 2006 hurricane season, according to a press release.

The summit features a split agenda, with morning sessions featuring government emergency management agencies, weather service representatives and utility services, as well as survivors of last year`s calamitous hurricane events, who will speak about the lessons learned from their responses to what was the most active hurricane season in the last 70 years.

Afternoon sessions will feature the data management institute`s training and certification programme on disaster recovery and data protection. The course has been used to train over 1 000 planners worldwide.