Power supply failures were the fastest growing
source of business disruption last year, as power-hungry IT systems
put increasing strain on the electricity infrastructure, according
to business continuity supplier Sungard.
The growing
use of blade servers by IT departments, combined with greater
demands on IT cooling systems, have contributed to a significant
growth in power-related business disruptions over the past 12
months, said Sungard.
The proportion of business continuity plans being invoked by
companies experiencing power failures jumped from 7% in 2005 to 26%
in 2006, the company said.
"The power infrastructure is creaking a bit. Power is harder to
get. When companies are looking for new buildings, there are very
few where you can build datacentres because there is not enough
power from the grid," said Sungard managing director Keith
Tilley.
Power outages over the past year were caused by a combination
of problems in the electricity grid and failures in datacentres as
rising power demands from IT and
air-conditioning equipment put a strain on the supply
infrastructure.
Paul Briggs, Sungard head of customer service, said, "Businesses
are being forced to drive their systems harder to keep pace with
commercial demands. The problem is that it is much easier to roll
out new applications and servers than it is to update the
supporting infrastructure.
"Uninterruptible power supplies and generators usually have a
12-week delivery time and require an engineering project to
install. But typically servers can be installed and delivered in
days."
Steve Salmon, business continuity consultant at professional
services firm KPMG, pointed out that organisations often had little
control over their power supply systems in shared buildings.
"One of the problems organisations face is getting transparency
on how their power supply is maintained and how it grows in
response to demand," he said. "There is a lot of equipment to
maintain and service. If maintenance is neglected, that can lead to
problems.
"It is important for organisations to look at the small print of
their power supply arrangements. It often emerges that the design
of the power supply does not meet requirements."
Best practice for ensuring power supplies
(Source: KPMG)
● Match availability requirements for IT to the power system
design
● Install an uninterruptible power supply, which will allow IT
systems to continue functioning for a short period if there is a
temporary loss of power
● Look for a datacentre with an alternative source of power,
such as a diesel generator
● The gold standard, increasingly favoured by financial
organisations, is a datacentre with two independent sources of
power. But this costs.
Datacentre efficiencies 'need review' >>
Avoid datacentre downtime >>
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