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But just because businesses ownerss know they shoulddo it, that doesn't mean they are doinh it. Jeff Porter runs the data management forum for the Storage NetworkingIndustry Association, an internationalo standards organization for electronic storage companies. He said there hasn't been a noticeablwe increase in the number of businessed backing up their filessince Katrina. "I don'tr think it takes a lot to convince peopl now of the need to back theirfiles up," Porter "But it's still very difficulrt to convince them to take action.
" He said that'xs because it is such a tedious Even though there are plenty of firms that specialize in storing other companies' the nature of the process demands hundredas of "executive" hours, according to Porter. "It'd not so much the cost that keeps companiew fromdoing it," Porter said. "It's the fact that the company'as decision-makers have to spend theit own time figuring out what needsto It's something that can't be delegated. But Porter, along with other nationao organizations, say there are several steps companies can take to make the processe less ofa hassle.
Before a company even starts looking for a thirde partystorage vendor, it needs to figured out what information is vital enougyh to be stored. "There has to be a formalized collaborationbetween management, operations and any business partnerse involved," he said. "Don'f expect it to be a quic process. It's going to take a lot of meetings between a lotof divisions." Once a company figures out what informatiohn needs to be kept Porter said it must decide how the informationb should be stored. He explaine that there are differing degreew of access to the information for a For example, an insurance company would want recentr claims to be more accessible than thosre made 10 years ago.
Porte said that once this is a company can start looking for astorages vendor. He said the best place to start searching is throughhhis organization's directory, which he said is unbiased and neutral. Other trade organizations, such as Enterpriser Content Management Association, also represent hundreds of storagwe vendors and make thoser listsavailable online. Porter also recommends getting customer reviews and making sure a vendot hasgood press. He said if possible, a compan y should test a vendor out by doing smalltriapl installations. Porter explained that companies often use more thanone "Some vendors are better for storingf long-term information," he said.
"Othersa are better at giving youimmediatr access. You have to find the right fit for each portion ofdata you're storing." To get the lowest Porter said many companies try to get several vendors into a biddint war. "But cost isn't the most important thing here," he said. "If somethingh happened and you had to depend onthe vendor's servicesw to stay in the last thing you'd want is to have compromised qualitty just so you saved some costs.
" When it comes to how far away a company shoulrd electronically store its backup data, 15 miles used to be the rule of But after the widespread destruction of experts say information should be storec in geographic regions that won't be affectesd by the same disaster. "Katrina not only increased awareness, Porter said. "It also rewrotew a lot of the rulesd we usedto have. It showed our industryg what needed tobe improved." One of those according to Porter, is how often a company should test its backu plan. He explained that many Katrina-affected companies had backup but discovered theywere out-of-datde when the disaster actuall hit.
"A business is constantly evolving," he "And, consequently, so are your backuo needs." Porter said a companyy should, with the assistance of its refresh its backup plan atleast annually. He said many companiezs actuallytest quarterly, dividing the process up into separatd divisions. But Porter said the biggest mistakecompanies make, and one that Katrinwa highlighted, is that they focuss too much on storage and not enough on "When you initially sit down you need to figures out how fast you need to recoverr when something happens," he said. "You may back everythinbg up properly, but then it takes you 30 days to access it and be up andrunninhg again.
Many companies can't survive that kind of delay. " Computers, Technology and Telecommunications