Is it Time for Disaster Recovery Plans to Include QR Codes?

You’ve probably already seen QR codes many times. A QR code typically looks like a bit of computer-generated art in a square, printed in magazines, on cereal packets, on buses, and so on. What’s the link with disaster recovery plans? Simple enough. The use of smartphones is increasing, and so are the opportunities for enabling […]

Is your Disaster Recovery Plan Based on Inaccessible Backup Data?

Every so often discussions arise outside the domain of disaster recovery plans, but that trigger thought-provoking questions. One recent example was about the extent to which backup tapes destined for DR were accessible or not for legal information discovery. This is the procedure whereby the databases of an organisation can be searched by the opposite […]

One Day You too may have a Disaster Recovery Plan in Your DNA

Yes, you can take that title literally. While the debate goes on about whether a disaster recovery plan should be centred on back-up to hard disk or tape, there’s a new kid on the storage block (or around the corner for the moment) – DNA. In a paper entitled “Next-Generation Digital Information Storage in DNA”, […]

Dynamic disaster recovery plans and the promise of “set it and forget it”

The “set it and forget it” dream has been around for a while. It has always been tempting to wish that systems could be built in accordance with disaster recovery plans, and then left alone until the moment when circumstances called for them to be activated. Now cloud computing is being hailed as the solution […]

A government disaster recovery plan with long term visions

How far would you expect a disaster recovery plan to extend into the aftermath of a disaster? Days? Weeks? Months? Years…? The Queensland Natural Disasters Jobs and Skills Package from the state of the same name in Australia shows how government perspectives on a situation can be different to individual enterprises, especially in terms of […]

Disaster Recovery Plans and the “New Normal”

Disaster recovery plans need to take account of changes. Regular reviews of changes in a company’s operations and dependencies, and developments in DR tools are all part of DR planning. What was true twelve months ago may have changed significantly by now and projected responses to disaster situations need to be updated accordingly. However, until […]