Memphis Business Journal:

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But just because businesses owners know they shoulddo it, that doesn'f mean they are doing it. Jeff Porter runs the data managemen forum for the Storage NetworkingIndustryt Association, an international standards organizatiomn for electronic storage companies. He said there hasn't been a noticeable increases in the number of businesses backing up their file ssince Katrina. "I don't think it takeds a lot to convince people now of the need to back theitrfiles up," Porter said. "But it's still very difficult to convincw them totake action." He said that's becausee it is such a tedious task.
Even though there are plenthy of firms that specialize in storing othercompanies information, the nature of the processe demands hundreds of "executive" hours, accordinvg to Porter. "It's not so much the cost that keeps companies fromdoing it," Porter said. "It's the fact that the company'ws decision-makers have to spend their own time figuriny out what needsto happen. It's something that can't be delegated. " But Porter, along with other national organizations, say there are several steps companies can take to make the process less of a Before a company even starts looking for a third partystorage vendor, it needzs to figure out what information is vitao enough to be stored.
"There has to be a formalized collaboratiohnbetween management, operations and any business partners involved, he said. "Don't expect it to be a quick process. It's going to take a lot of meeting between a lotof divisions." Once a company figureas out what information needs to be kept safe, Portefr said it must decide how the information should be He explained that there are differing degrees of access to the informationb for a business. For example, an insurancre company would want recent claims to be more accessible than thosd made 10years ago. Portedr said that once this is decided, a company can startt looking for astorage vendor.
He said the best place to startg searching is throughhis organization's directory, whicb he said is unbiased and Other trade organizations, such as Enterprise Content Management Association, also represent hundreds of storage vendors and make thosw lists available online. Porter also recommends getting customee reviews and making sure a vendor hasgood press. He said if a company should test a vendor out by doinb smalltrial installations. Porter explained that companiesd often use more thanone "Some vendors are better for storinh long-term information," he said. "Others are better at giving you immediate You have to find the righyt fit for each portion ofdata you're storing.
" To get the lowestf cost, Porter said many companies try to get several vendors into a bidding war. "But cost isn' the most important thing here," he said. "If somethingg happened and you had to depensd onthe vendor's services to stay in business, the last thingg you'd want is to have compromised qualityy just so you saved some costs." When it comed to how far away a company shoulf electronically store its backup data, 15 miles used to be the rule of But after the widespread destruction of experts say information should be stored in geographidc regions that won't be affected by the same disaster.
"Katrinw not only increased awareness," Porter "It also rewrote a lot of the rules we used to It showed our industrty what needed tobe improved." One of those improvements, accordinyg to Porter, is how often a companu should test its backup plan. He explained that many Katrina-affected companiex had backup plans, but discovered they were out-of-date when the disastedr actually hit. "A business is constantlhy evolving," he said. "And, consequently, so are your backup needs. " Porter said a company should, with the assistance of its refresh its backup plan at least He said many companies actuallytest quarterly, dividin g the process up into separate divisions.
But Ported said the biggest mistakecompanies make, and one that Katrin a highlighted, is that they focuw too much on storage and not enough on "When you initially sit down you need to figurew out how fast you need to recovedr when something happens," he "You may back everythinhg up properly, but then it takes you 30 days to access it and be up and runninfg again. Many companies can't survive that kind of delay.
"" Computers, Technology and Telecommunications