Disaster recovery 'affordable with virtualisation'

Virtual private servers can benefit data protection and business compliance because cloud computing allows for accessible and affordable disaster recovery, it has been reported.

Writing for Infostor, Eric Burgener, senior analyst and consultant with research and consulting firm the Taneja Group, said cloud computing can enable small and medium-sized businesses to deploy disaster recovery solutions which they previously could not afford.

Larger enterprises can also benefit from a migration to virtual private servers because the easy access of disaster recovery solutions means swift implementation of off-site protection for new projects can be in place.

"Given the increasing criticality of data, all enterprises should have a disaster recovery plan in place for at least key applications. But many do not, primarily due to cost and complexity issues," Mr Burgener said.

Manchester city council recently told the Manchester Evening News it had realised the importance of disaster recovery systems after its IT infrastructure was attacked by the Conficker virus.

Steve Park, head of ICT at the council, told the newspaper that in the event of an emergency, key systems can be recovered with minimal disruption to operations.

Written by Rachel Jones