Hurricane Season Disaster & Recovery Tips for Data Centers

TAMPA, Fla., May 15, 2018 – After the costliest and most damaging Atlantic hurricane season in history last year, early forecasts from storm prediction analysts at Colorado State University indicate 2018 will be above average for hurricane season. 

Hurricane season begins June 1 and continues through November. Last year, the U.S. experienced significant damage from three major storms and organizations’ data centers were at risk.  Before the 2018 hurricane season begins, vXchnge, a leading neutral colocation data center services provider, is offering insights and tips on disaster recovery to protect organizations’ data centers from significant downtime:

• Re-evaluate the data center’s disaster recovery plan before hurricane season begins. It’s critical to have a disaster recovery plan and contingencies in place (including redundant operations) in case a data center is shut down due to a natural disaster.

• Review contract details such as service-level agreements and data center processes for disaster preparedness. Reputation is important but establishing a personal relationship with your data center operator is equally important. Review the center’s maintenance operating procedures (MOPs) and standard operating procedures (SOPs).

• Ask when the data center last performed an Integrated Systems Test (a complete power shutdown from the utility). In this scenario, the power is turned off at the box outside of the building to ensure battery backups and generators react as intended. Good data center managers maintain logs and can say exactly when this last occurred.

• Whether companies use colocation data centers or run their own, it’s critical to maintain proper procedures documenting every instance of testing. It’s important to audit testing procedures at least once a year to ensure backup power and cooling can maintain the current power load of the data center.

As the U.S. enters another heavily predicted active hurricane season, vXchnge experts are available to discuss various disaster and recovery scenarios, practices, plans and implementations.

About vXchnge
vXchnge is a leading carrier-neutral colocation services provider dedicated to improving the business performance of its customers. vXchnge delivers unmatched brand protection and reliability to global and emerging growth brands through its data-center-as-a-service solution. Companies can leverage vXchnge’s interconnections and strategically located data centers to enable their digital transformations and cloud architectures. The company is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. For more information, visit https://www.vxchnge.com/ or connect on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Contacts

Rainier Communications
Marianne Dempsey, 508-475-0025, Ext. 115

vxchnge@rainierco.com