Hurricane Paul Serves as Fortunate Reminder for Data Center Managers

Round Rock, TX -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/18/2012 -- Hurricane Paul was downgraded from a hurricane to a Category 2 storm as peak wind speeds continue to wane. While hurricane wind speeds are not expected to revitalize, data centers across the southwestern United States are taking the necessary precautions – just in case.

At the close of September, the Weather Channel Companies issued their final Atlantic hurricane season outlook for 2012. It included an increase in the number of named storms and a total of nine hurricanes. These estimates represent an increase of three named storms and one hurricane during the final third of the 2012 hurricane season.

Chris Ford of ColocationDataCenter.org noted, “This hurricane season has been much more active than anticipated, but it appears that colocation providers across the country are taking the necessary precautions.” he goes on to say, “Fortunately, hurricanes are one of the more predictable physical threats to data centers. While they are extremely powerful and can cause a lot of damage, data centers normally have adequate advanced warning to make the necessary preparations to protect their infrastructure and double check their backup power supply.”

He went on to discuss the three biggest threats hurricanes pose to purpose-built data centers and colocation providers – wind damage, water damage, and extended power outages. High winds cause a variety of structural damage to the building and surrounding property. Water damage, primarily in the form of flooding, can destroy all of the hardware being housed within minutes. Of course, there is no shortage of examples where power has been lost for weeks following a hurricane.

Ford also noted that disaster preparedness is one of the primary reasons colocation has become popular over the past decade. “As more businesses become reliant on accessing and storing digital data, colocation has become a key element in the typical disaster recovery strategy. It allows businesses to house all of their digital data in a location far enough away from their primary base of operations that a single natural disaster will not affect both locations during the same event – ensuring at least one copy of the data safe.”

Colocation providers across the country are urging businesses to take proactive steps to ensure their disaster recovery approach includes holistic measures to protect their valuable data and minimize unplanned downtime.

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