‘Storm preparation’ is a term with which people across the gulf coast are intimately familiar. Most of the tools we need from June to November (and this year possibly longer) have become second-nature. Sandbags. Non-perishable foods. Battery-operated radios. Flashlights.
But in the IT world, there are other tools we use in storm and disaster preparation, devices that are essential to any small business trying to stay afloat during a catastrophic event. As Bellwether’s Data Assurance Engineer, it is my job to use Backup and Disaster Recovery tools to protect our clients. These essential tools preserve a company’s files and servers and send copies to the cloud — fully secure datacenters across the country. If a company uses these tools, they can rest assured that even if disaster strikes and their building is unavailable for days or even weeks, they will be able to keep their business up and running from afar.
At Bellwether, our clients have the option of using one of these disaster recovery appliances called Infrascale. After Hurricane Zeta ravaged our shores a few weeks ago, Infrascale was able to save the day for one of our customers. Within an hour of them making the call, I spun up their server in Infrascale’s Salt Lake City data center, configured some settings on the employees’ computers, and gave them access to the files they needed to keep the wheels turning. In the Covid era, where many employees have work from home set-ups, this technology is of tantamount importance.
A situation like the one above is rare — and like car insurance, we hope we never need to use it. However, part of being a well-run business is strong preparation. For companies in the gulf coast area, part of that preparation extends to hurricanes and tropical storms. As a leading IT managed services provider, it is Bellwether’s duty to make sure companies are ready for a storm like Zeta and that it won’t leave them unable to do what they do best.