Virtualisation 'aids disaster recovery'

Technologies such as virtualisation have changed the way data in businesses is recovered, a claim has suggested.

If an enterprise's backup system fails to include developments such as virtual private servers then should an unexpected incident occur, it could be increasingly difficult and expensive to recover the information, Adrian Briscoe, general manager at Ontrack Data Recovery APAC, advised.

Despite the financial and reputational impact that data loss can have, only 52 per cent of firms admit they have reviewed their disaster recovery plans in the past 12 months.

Furthermore, only 41 per cent of individuals said they monthly test restored data from a backup system.

"Organisations need to start applying business continuity and data protection safeguarding measures throughout the entire data lifecycle," Mr Briscoe stated.

Utilising the services of a reliable web host which provides virtual private servers could be important after a study by OpTier found that over 50 per cent of respondents claimed that ineffective IT management tools cost their firm an average annual sum of £4.64 million in staff time and downtime.

Written by Tim Dunton