Internet Disaster Recovery

In Avanti’s 2010 research white paper Internet Criticality and Contingency, it was discovered that the majority of the 203 global IT decision-maker respondents – 33% – are simply not putting into place any form of internet disaster recovery provision. Of the remainder, 17% do have in place a second connection, while 21% are relying on a wireless connection, 15% have an alternative network connection and 6% opt for dial up.

It is no surprise to learn that the majority of these alternate connections are either less reliable or slower than the primary connection. Over a third (35%) confirm connectivity is substantially slower, while 26% say connectivity is substantially less reliable.

Furthermore, these solutions do not address the key business continuity requirement of diversity; the need to avoid any single point of failure. A number of ISPs share the same common infrastructure – a fact that became apparent in March 2010 when a fire destroyed the Paddington Exchange. This took down some 400 separate exchanges, including both ISPs and mobile providers, all of whom were sharing the same BT infrastructure.