Who isn’t being affected by all the craziness in our world?  With the global financial markets failing on every continent and economic instability rampant everywhere, this is a time to make sure you’ve got your bases covered.

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity earlier this week to speak to 78 people on “Avoiding a Business Disaster” which I think is extremely relevant to all businesses in all industries.  Not only are companies running on the financial razor’s edge, but the majority of businesses big and small, successful and not-so-much are completely ignoring the importance of protecting their computer data.  

With a bankruptcy rate of 94% for companies that have a major data loss, there isn’t much else to be said. Computers are extremely important in all businesses and the data that get’s created on them is irreplaceable.  I always tell people, “It’s easy to buy a new computer, but there is no store on earth that sells your data!”.  If you lose it, it’s gone forever!  So if you’re not proactive and make the small investment to implement a quality data backup and more importantly data recovery solution, then you are asking for trouble.  It’s not a matter of “if”, but a matter “when” your business will experience computer problems and major data loss.  Computers aren’t perfect, and we the users are definitely nowhere close to perfect.

You must automatically back up your data onsite and to a long-term secure offsite storage provider or you will only have a small chance of recovering your data “when” you lose it.  There are very few backup solutions that actually give you a fighting chance of not losing your data.  Tapes don’t, disk backup doesn’t, and definitely most online only backup providers don’t.  That’s right, online backup sucks too!  Have you ever tried downloading gigs and gigs of data over the internet?  Especially from home / professional online only backup services that you pay less for than a cup of coffee?  I only have one thing to say about the fact that 70% of recoveries fail with most backup solutions… What’s the point in backup, if you can’t recover?

Enough with me ranting.  As you may be well aware, I am extremely passionate about the proper protection of computer data.  It is our business to assure that our clients have the best chance of recovering their data accurately and on-time when they need it most.   It pains me to see that close to 100% of businesses are not using an adequate data protection solution.

There are many factors that make up a proper backup and recovery solution; onsite backup, offsite backup, granular recovery, bulk recovery, security, compression, data integrity, automation, archiving, efficiency, incremental-forever storage, geopolitical location, geographical location, long-term secure storage, customer service, total cost of ownership, long-term data management, future-proofing, affordability, etc…the list goes on and on.  All these factors and many more have been considered by us at Toggle Networks to build the best backup and recovery service available on the market today.

When your world is crashing and it’s taking your data with it, Toggle will be here to make sure you don’t lose a thing.  Now the financial markets crashing is a different story, as we haven’t figured out how to recover your money yet!

In recent news headlines, Kelowna’s name comes up with announcements about the new $75 million dollar gigacenter that is being built by IBM and RackForce (a Kelowna company). The 70,000 square foot facility scheduled to open in December 2008, is state of the art, energy efficient, “green” and totally secure. Upon completion it will generate 100 plus new career positions in Kelowna and area.

The gigacenter is purportedly going to be the largest in North America. That raises the question of why would these organizations choose Kelowna as the ideal place to build this very expensive facility?  Well first you have to have a clear understanding of why the facility is needed at all.

The gigacenter fulfills the huge and rapidly increasing need for IT data storage. The continuing explosion of data that is being generated (much of which must be securely stored and instantly retrievable when required for both business needs and legal and governmental requirements) is dramatically taxing data storage capacity worldwide. The gigacenter is designed with “state of the art” security, highest reliability, greatest efficiency, readily accessibility and “green power”.   Huge volumes of data will be transmitted and stored in the Kelowna gigacenter from all over the world.

Kelowna is a unique but also ideal choice as the site for this type of facility due to our moderate climate, earthquake and flood free history, and we are not in a zone normally affected by terrorism or other strife. Our electricity is reliable and “green” hydro electric and we have a very stable economy and a growing IT work force with an excellent work ethic.

All of this makes both the gigacenter and Kelowna the ideal choice for organizations both big and small wanting to avoid the disaster of data loss and have the ability to assure rapid and comprehensive disaster recovery. 

The Okanagan Valley already has a surprising number of high tech organizations with dozens of website design firms, software developers, custom programmers, computer sales and support organizations and manufacturers whose products and services are based on high end technology. On behalf of my employer Toggle Networks Inc. I am now offering to valley businesses our “state of the art”, data protection solutions that fit all enterprises, small, medium or large. 

The movers and shakers in business and community development have created and are solidly behind a “Silicon Vineyard” initiative with support from the Okanagan Science and Technology Council, the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Commission. 

The combination of the development of the Gigacenter whose primary function is the secure storage of back up data, the burgeoning growth of IT enterprises in the valley and the “Silicon Vineyard” initiative, has attracted the interest of IT Disaster Recovery and Avoidance experts.

As an example, on October 7, 2008 Toggle Networks Inc. is sponsoring a seminar  “Avoiding a Business Disaster” (naturally being in the Okanagan Valley the no charge format is a Wine & Cheese).

For further information contact ;

Bob Keeling
 Roberts.keeling@togglenetworks.com
(250) 769.9159

Most of us have some form of data backup in place. Unfortunately, this tends to lull us into a false sense of security and that keeps us from addressing how well it is doing the job or from upgrading or changing to better, more reliable, automated systems such as TrueVault the “state of the art” solution from the company I work for Toggle Networks Inc.

(This is not a sales pitch, however I do want you to understand that I am totally committed to the belief that TrueVault is the best data protection system in the world and that bias affects the degree of passion that I bring to this subject.)

Here is the problem:

Any data backup system that relies on human action is automatically less reliable and more expensive than a 100% automated “set it and forget it” solution such as TrueVault.

What happens if one of the dozens of possible disasters occur that causes the loss your data and:

• You attempt to reinstall from tape and the data isn’t there?
• Only part of your data is there?
• You find out that the data recovery will take days or perhaps weeks to accomplish?

These are the hidden dangers. What can they do to you?

What are the hidden costs?

 
 Labour is expensive and the typical tape backup systems that is currently the most common method of backup is way too labour intensive. “Someone” (usually a fairly expensive “someone”) has to change the tape and check the logs daily. They usually then have to transport the tape to an offsite location, swap it for the next rotation and bring the next tape back. Occasionally they should test that the data is there and that the  reinstall does work. In the typical installation the total labour involved averages 23 minutes a day. At today’s cost of labour for “someone” , including fringe benefits labor costs $39 per hour so that amounts to $14.82 a day or over $315 a month plus tapes and depreciation of the tape backup system. We are talking over $4,000 dollars a year in hidden costs!     

Maybe it is time to reconsider how you are backing up your data.

Roberts G. Keeling

Application Service Providers (ASP) are represented by a growing number of IT businesses delivering computer services from a central datacenter.  ASP solutions are very effective at reducing and in some cases eliminating the need for complex computer systems at the customers’ site.  A well run ASP service caters to businesses with niche computing needs or streamlined industry computer practices. 

The costs for an ASP service may seem high at first until factoring in the total cost of ownership associated with building and managing a complex computer system onsite.  Many businesses shy away from not “owning” their computer system and look unfavourably on ASP’s.  This will change in the future as computer systems become more centralized and monthly computer services become the accepted norm.  It is typically not in the best interest for businesses that do not specialize in IT to be responsible for an IT solution.  It doesn’t make sense to have an IT guy diagnose and illness, so why should a doctors be responsible for the health of their computer systems.

ASP’s are becoming more prevalent, however there are still many questions that must be asked before jumping on the ASP bandwagon.  A complete ASP solution will only require “dumb” terminals at the customers’ site, which begs the question what if there are other needs like accounting, email, pictures, peripherals, etc. not supported by the ASP.  Maybe there is equipment onsite like x-ray or manufacturing machines that need to communicate with a “smart” terminal or server.  I would say the most prevalent concerns one should have with an ASP is stability, security and disaster recovery.   ASP solutions rely completely on the quality of the Internet connection at the customer and service providers’ site.  Your service will only be as good as quality and security of computer infrastructure provided by the ASP.  And most importantly all your eggs are in one basket, so you must be absolutely confident that the ASP has a comprehensive disaster avoidance, disaster response and disaster recovery solution in place.

When considering an ASP, make sure you get a rock solid Service Level Agreement (SLA).  Ensure the ASP is backed by a proven disaster recovery solution and has taken every possible security precaution.  Consult with an IT professional who understands the ins and outs of ASP services to see if it is right for you in both the short and long term.

Don’t be too quick to assume that ASP’s are the one-stop miracle IT solution you’ve always dreamed about.   Be aware and proceed with caution.

Most people define a disaster as something that affects just them:

• A broken fingernail,
• A fender bender,
• A missed promotion or,
• A pimple may qualify,.

Public disaster definitions may include:

• 911 the Twin Towers Disaster,
• The Sinking of the Titanic,
• The Hindenburg dirigible explosion,
• JFK’s assassination.

I suggest the truth for most of us is somewhere in between:

Ø       The loss of a relative,

Ø       The loss of a business,

Ø       A marriage breakup,

Ø       Serious injury or illness for ourselves or a loved one.

Of these, the loss of a business is probably the only one we can prevent.

I lost a business once and in hindsight it was totally unnecessary. It was a viable, very successful business, growing, profitable and I lost it. Why? Well almost without exception, financial advisors, bankers, and accountants will use terms like; “lack of financial controls”, “inadequate capitalization”,  “unrealistic sales forecasts”, etc.  However that type of advisor rarely has started or held the ultimate responsibility for managing a business and that lack of first hand experience makes their opinion lack value. Or that I value anyway. The “why” was my fault as I failed to follow a principle that my business was based on (preventive maintenance of computers) well duhh! I failed to meet my primary responsibility of protecting my business by failing to anticipate and plan on avoiding any and all disasters!

I’ll come back to “why” in a minute; first let me tell you “how”. My business was a computer service. The computer service industry is one where “the only constant is change”. So one year end when we were completing our financials, our accountant recommended we significantly write down the value of our parts inventory as recent changes in our service offerings had reduced the value of the parts. A simple accounting change that did not have much impact on our bottom line.

Wrong!

Our loan manager at our bank freaked! Her position was that as the parts inventory was a significant asset in support of our loan, we had “torpedoed her!” We met with her and her boss and managed to successfully resolve the problem with an accelerated payment plan.

Wrong!

A week later the bank called our loan.  O.K. lets deal with that. As we were sorting out our new plan and budget to pay the called bank loan, we addressed the fact that we were slightly behind on our submissions of employee withholding to Canada Revenue Agency (nothing new, we had been operating this way for years and CRA had always been co-operative). So we met with CRA explained the bank situation and presented CRA with our plan to pay them up to date and they accepted it – no problem.

Wrong!

The next day CRA faxed out a demand to all of our customers to remit all payments due to our company directly to CRA!

Payday was 2 days later & we were dead! We were totally unaware that CRA had just lost a court battle with our bank to establish who had first dibs on the assets of a company that had failed. So CRA covered their butt, by instigating a proactive strike by scooping up our cash before the bank.

This was my disaster defined. If I had been thorough in preventing, planning for and avoiding the issues that triggered this disaster it could have easily been avoided. So I learned a very painful lesson that to avoid a business disaster you must:

Ø       Research thoroughly (What happens if),

o        There is a fire, flood, earthquake, hurricane, tornado, major power outage?

o        How about a postal strike, a serious flu epidemic, a death or incapacitation of a key employee, a labour dispute?

o        What is the impact of the loss of a key contract or customer, or the technology shifts and some of your processes are suddenly obsolete?

o        Or your IT hardware fails and you lose your data and/or you attempt to reinstall from your backup tape or disc system and the data is not all there.

o         What if the bank calls your loan ?

Ø       Determine what needs to be addressed,

Ø       Identify the mitigation of risks through redundant systems (two banks instead of one), (backup and insurance of key staff), etc.

Ø       Ensure you have the best data backup for your computer (and test it)

Ø       Develop and implement full disaster avoidance and recovery plans.

There is an old saying, “Defining the problem takes you 50% of the way to solving it!”

This is especially true in “Disaster definition” and the design, implementation and maintenance of your Disaster Avoidance Plan.

“I’m sorry, it’s not our responsibility that you can’t recover your data, we only provide backup.”

“So I’ve been paying you good money to backup my data and I can’t get it back?  You mean tell me that ALL my files are gone?  Well that means I’m pretty much …”

It’s an unsettling thought to ever think you could be having this conversation.  Scary thing is it happens all too often.  Stats show that 70% of disaster recovery attempts from backup products and services fail are incomplete or ineffective.   It’s wild to think that most options for data backup aren’t very good at recovering data.  Sure there are multitudes of ways to backup your data.  Tapes, CDs, DVDs, online backup, disk backup, replication, and the list goes on.  But how many data protection products and services can actually ensure recovery of your data completely when you need it most?

So what’s the point in backup if you can’t recover?

Planes and I are friends.  I take full advantage of the convenience of flying when I can; however, I’m always wary of the risks associated with flight.  I’m not scared of flying, but my body and mind warn me of the dangers every time the pilot guns it down the runway and the plane rockets off the end of the airstrip gaining altitude faster than I can legally drive.  I classify the whole experience as a really well engineered “Hail Mary” pass.  The pilot’s the QB, I’m the ball and the receiver is a thin strip of rock a few thousand miles away decorated in Christmas lights.

There are really only two things that give me comfort when flying.  Not my seat belt…and definitely not my oxygen mask.   The first is the beer and pretzels served by a friendly flight crew.   But most comforting is a second engine strapped to our heavier than air wings.   I’m sure with a good pilot we could glide down to earth with no engine power and land in a farmer’s field, the middle of the ocean or the oh-so-beautiful Rocky Mountains.  However, if you are thinking what I’m thinking, arriving a little behind schedule on that second engine sounds a whole lot better than putting your head between your legs while the pilot tells you to brace yourself.  I’d sure be thanking the engineer who thought “Two engines are better than one”.   Double the performance, more efficient, cheaper flights and you’ve always got a backup when disaster strikes.

Interesting Thought:  I wonder how often two engined planes lose an engine and the passengers never know it?

Computers are just like planes, except they crash a lot more.  Does your disaster recovery have two engines or one?

I am excited to say that I have finally been given an opportunity to venture into a new and exciting career opportunity.  For the past few decades (I won’t tell you how many!), I have been a dental assistant,  dental administrator, and finally ended up being an area manager, managing 4 dental practices at one time.  I can speak great “dentalese“, but have now entered the world of IT.  Although the IT language still perplexes me at times, I love the challenges this opportunity has presented. 

I was surprised to learn on my first day of work at Toggle, that all of the data backup I had been doing within all of my dental companies was ineffectual.   I can’t tell you how many hours I have spent doing daily back ups (first with tapes and then CD’s), and even using a dental software recommended automated system.  I thought that I had protected my dental practices sufficiently, but in fact I had not, as most of my data I had backed up would not be retrievable.   One of my old dental offices has already signed up with my new company Toggle Networks.

Signed, the ever hopeful to one day being an IT Wiz,

Nelle

BOOM!!

Well maybe not BOOM, but if our firewall crash last month could have made a sound, it definitely would have been as resounding BOOM.  It’s a gut wrenching feeling as a IT service provider when one of your primary datacenter firewalls crashes without warning.  Fortunately, thanks to our monitoring systems and excellent tech team, we minimized the impact of the failed device and put a temporary solution in place till we get the right replacement.

Since the crash last week we’ve been working our butts off trying to pick the best replacement for our core firewall infrastructure at the Toggle Datacenter.  We met with numerous trusted IT professionals and companies around town and found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a Juniper vs. Cisco debate. 

Cisco’s better…No, Juniper is better…No, Cisco because…  You get the idea.  Everyone has an opinion and most seem to biased and backed by not knowing all the facts.  As typical in most technology debates, there is more emotion than fact.  Fortunately one of our service delivery partners had extensive experience with both Cisco and Juniper and really had no preference.  For the first time we were able to assess each company’s products and support objectively.

I won’t bore you with the details, but after a tremendous amount of research and discussion we have chosen to go with 2 redundant Juniper SSG 350M firewalls.  That’s not to say that Cisco is bad and Juniper is good.  The Juniper SSG 300/500 series out-classed the Cisco’s ASA 5500 series for us on performance and price making Juniper the obvious choice.   Plus their support and replacement plans are first class…even though Cisco diehards would have you think otherwise.  It’s like comparing BMW to Merc…never mind, one topic at a time.

I think the real decision maker for us was learning that most of the world’s service providers choose Juniper over Cisco for security and routing solutions.  Heck, even our datacenter providers infrastructure is powered by Juniper, and they are the largest in the world!

In the end, both are excellent solutions and neither can be faulted.  You might just end up making your decision by flipping a coin or going with whichever looks sexier.  I can’t wait to show off the stylish Junipers to the next person I take on a datacenter tour.  I guess emotion did play a part after all

Drop me a line if you every want to see them in action…or to get the full scoop on why we chose Juniper.