Businesses advised to have a back-up site

29 August 2008



Companies have been urged to consider setting up a second website as part of their disaster recovery strategy.

Guy Bunker, chief scientist at IT security firm Symantec, said having a second site is a common way to ensure business continues if problems occur.

Monitoring the website can be part of a disaster recovery solution but this is only an effective process if problems can be dealt with automatically when they arise, Mr Bunker explained.

"If there is a problem, then it automatically moves the application to the second site and business continues as normal," the expert stated.

Supermarket Sainsbury's experienced a problem with its website on July 17th that resulted in the firm suspending its online services.

It is estimated the problem cost the company more than £1 million in sales.

For businesses that trade solely online, such problems can have enormous implications.

Alex Zachary, a member of the firm's Technology and IP (TIP) group comments: "This emphasises the need for e-retailers to properly consider adequate back-up and disaster recovery procedures at the earliest stage of development and make proper provision for these in supplier contracts, such as with developers and ISPs"


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