A disaster recovery plan is critical for the health of every small business yet only 30% of small busi­nesses have one. In the aftermath of the recent earth­quake and hurricane affecting Greater Boston, area busi­nesses should prior­itize creating a disaster recovery plan. If you already have a plan in place, now is the right time to evaluate how well it’s working and plan for any needed enhancements.

From an IT perspective, the primary purpose of any business recovery plan is to protect critical data from being destroyed. Successful plans focus on keeping this data backed up and acces­sible at all times. When a disaster occurs, the last thing you want to discover is that all of your files and docu­ments are lost forever.

There are numerous ways to approach data storage and no one approach is right for all busi­nesses.  One example of an approach that is working success­fully for our clients is called SAN to SAN repli­cation. Over the last decade, the cost and complexity of SANs, dedi­cated networks that provides access to consol­i­dated data storage, has dropped dramat­i­cally making them a viable option for small to medium sized business envi­ron­ments. Simi­larly, the repli­cation software to create duplicate versions of networks in case of emer­gency has also become less expensive. Now with the reduced costs of SAN tech­nology and repli­cation, firms can easily replicate from one storage array to another, allowing for robust offsite backup and failover.

SAN to SAN repli­cation is just one of many disaster recovery options available to small to medium sized busi­nesses. To discuss an approach that may be best for your company, please give us a call. We are happy to set up a compli­mentary, no-obligation first meeting.