Hal Hinderliter

Planning for the worst
October 30, 2007

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Question: The fires in Southern California have me thinking about disaster planning. Are there people who specialize in this topic for the printing industry?

Answer: Yes, xpedx is one source for consulting on the topic of disaster preparedness. I recently spoke with Ron Browske, xpedx’s Senior Systems Integrator (a disaster recovery expert certified in “Business Continuity and Emergency Planning” by Cleveland State University) and Scott Dunlap, Technical Manager at the xpedx National Technology Center in Twinsburg, Ohio.

Challenging those disastrous assumptions
“It’s tough to convince people that their business can survive after a disaster,” said Dunlap. “The feeling is that ‘if I lose my building and lose my house, its not going to matter anyhow,’ but we don’t agree with that. You just need to have plans in place, including where to put your data and how to partners with other printers who are outside of the disaster area.”

“Most printers figure that if it hasn’t happened yet, it won’t happen to them,” acknowledged Browske. “For example, take Florida – I’m amazed at the lack of planning for a hurricane among the printers we’ve spoken to in that state.”

Step One: Don't lose your data
“When we take on a new project, the first thing is to make sure that a current copy of all the job data is located somewhere offsite or can be easily moved to a safer location,” revealed Browske. “In our consulting, our number one focus is on the data. It can be all the way from taking tapes offsite to mirroring data to an offsite location, even at somebody’s house. For multiple corporate facilities, we mirror their data over to another server.”

Dunlap agreed with the importance of an off-site data backup. “According to the U.S. government’s disaster recovery guidelines, the replication sites should be at least 300 miles away. That might sound like overkill, but keep in mind that about 70 percent of shops that lose their data in a disaster will go out of business within two years.”

Step Two: Partnering for success
“Second, you must find another place, another printer, that you can work with if you go down,” related  Browske. “If your people can’t come to work but you still need to get jobs out, you must have an alternate team in place to get that work done. Set up a database of printers that have equipment similar to yours, so that if your presses were down two weeks or more after a disaster, you could go to this place with a similar workflow and have a relatively easy transition.”  

Step Three: Don’t forget the basics
“Most shops do have sprinkler systems, but your computer room may have sprinklers right above the servers’” Browske pointed out. “Fireproof safes for your backup media are good, but most safes advertised as “fireproof” are only certified to stay below the combustion point of paper (451 degrees Farenheit) while plastic melts at 250 degrees. You can buy ‘media safes’ that are specially made for computer discs, but most of them are only rated to keep the plastic safe for an hour.”

Fires are prominent in the news this week, but xpedx’s Scott Dunlap wants to remind everyone that disaster preparation is crucial for any location. “If power lines go down, you need backup lighting, flashlights, plus a battery powered radio and television,” said Dunlap. “And don’t forget the basics, such as blankets. Say you have a big snowstorm and people are stuck in the building; very seldom do people have enough food, water, cots, etc.”

Dig your well before you’re thirsty!
To discuss your disaster preparedness plans with the experts from xpedx, send an email to ntcinfo@xpedx.com for more information.

Posted by Hal Hinderliter on October 30, 2007 | Comments (1)