Technology is changing IT disaster recovery outsourcing

By Linda Tucci, Senior News Writer
25 Aug 2009 | SearchCIO.com

Many enterprises have been insourcing IT disaster recovery (DR) in recent years through a combination of disk-based backup, server virtualization and, increasingly, cloud server capacity. DR providers are now doing many of the same things, changing the nature of what CIOs can and should expect from outsourcing DR.

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One clear example is the shift from tape to disk backup. DR providers have long made a living picking up and storing tapes. Now, almost all the vendors interviewed for our DR trends story said they were advising clients to move from tape to electronic vaulting for backup, both to save money and improve recovery service levels.

While tape certainly is less expensive than a replication infrastructure, providers said that CIOs need to factor in the "people and risk" costs associated with tape in a recovery scenario, including the time spent on managing the tape, the risk of lost tapes, and being unable to recover tapes. click here to read more...