Spring Newsletter

In this issue

• Disaster recovery planning

• Case Study: CSL Group

• Building a plan

• Choosing the right backup

• In brief

I hope you find this edition useful, whether you’ve developed your plan or not, and remember if you need any help with business continuity management we are just a phone call away. The cost of disruption As an organisation’s reliance on its IT resources grows, it’s more important than ever to protect those assets. It’s not just about client data. Applications, business processes, networks, even physical security can be affected too. Business interruptions don’t just stem from extreme examples of disaster. The combined effort of everyday issues can cause more headaches than rare disasters. As well as headaches disruptions incur costs to your organisation. A simple email virus may not appear to be a disaster; but the time and resource required to resolve the issue can be significant.

Disaster recovery planning

Abtec Network Systems Ltd www.abtecnet.com 01858 438 500

One story has dominated the headlines since the New Year; floods. As

these ‘rare’ weather incidents appear to be occurring more often we’ve devoted this issue to looking at ways of protecting your IT resources. In

this edition we’ll explore how to create an effective business continuity

plan (BCP) and look at technologies that can help achieve that plan.

81% Of respondents said that the costs

of BCP had been justified by the

benefits to the organisation.

Source: CMI Business Continuity Management Survey 2013

87% of managers whose organizations

had activated their BCP

arrangements in the last 12

months agreed that it had

effectively reduced disruption.

Disaster recovery planning

Whether it’s a virus, server failure, or an asteroid from space; there are ways to protect your IT resources against disaster. Plan, Prepare, Practice, Persist In its simplest form BCP is the pro-active protection of selected assets to ensure that your organisation can still operate, should an incident occur. It’s a continuous process of: • Identifying your organisation’s products or services • Understanding the resources and activities required to

produce these • Mitigating the risks that could disrupt those resources

and activities We’ll look at how to create a BCP in more depth later. How can Abtec help? Over the years we’ve built a portfolio of services that can support your business continuity planning; from simple email protection through to sophisticated real time data centre replication. We keep abreast of industry best practice and provide tried and trusted BCP products and services. Our engineers have the accredited skills to design, deliver, maintain and test the business continuity service that’s right for you. Our advice and support can help protect your organisation from the everyday issues and extreme incidents.

Abtec Network Systems Ltd www.abtecnet.com 01858 438 500

Case Study

Abtec had only recently commissioned Smith Brothers Stores’ disaster recovery data centre when a fire in an electrical distribution point caused a power outage to the firm’s headquarters. IT and communications applications were in jeopardy of failing. This would have caused chaos for the staff at the HQ and nine retail branches.

The primary data centre automatically began to migrate its workload over to the secondary site, over 30 miles away. Within minutes business critical applications were back up and running. “I dread to think how much this would have cost the business without Abtec’s planning and support.” Lead IT manager, Smiths Brothers Stores Ltd.

Keeping the

Business Online

Case Study

When CSL Business Machines was let down by its incumbent IT

supplier it needed an expert in IT and virtualisation to keep its infrastructure online.

Midlands based print management business, CSL Business

Machines Ltd, relies on its data centre and servers. The

company runs bespoke applications that manage its

clients’ printers and helps them reduce their printing

costs. CSL thought its incumbent IT supplier had an

adequate business continuity plan should any failures

happen in its data centre.

It hadn’t, and CSL experienced a server failure which took

out its data centre for 10 days. This had a significant impact

on the business. “This failure cost the business tens of

thousands of pounds in revenue.” explains Andy Perkins,

Director CSL Business Machines, “It was also disruptive and

disconcerting for our staff”. CSL was disappointed with the

support it received from its current IT supplier and decided

it was time for a change.

The Challenge

Abtec Network Systems Ltd www.abtecnet.com 01858 438 500

About CSL Business Machines Ltd

CSL has been at the forefront of copier and

printer technology since the 1960s supplying

photocopiers to organisations throughout the

UK from its Midlands head office. As well as

providing printing, scanning and copying

hardware, CSL provide services that help

organisations reduce their printing costs.

These services rely heavily on server

applications in CSL’s data centre.

Case Study

The Results CSL now has an IT environment that is protected against many

types of disaster or failure. If CSL experience a server failure,

VMware’s high availability feature will migrate its virtual servers to

another server in the cluster. The company’s data, which is

backed up daily, can be recovered and accessed at a remote site,

helping mitigate against the loss of data due to IT failures. Abtec

installed its Abtec Network Monitor tool, this service remotely

monitors CSL’s Local Area Network and the devices on that

network. It identifies possible issues, and notifies both Abtec and

CSL, before these issues escalate into problems.

“The biggest benefit for CSL is that our IT backbone can now be

restored within a few hours rather than weeks. Abtec has

restored our management’s and staff’s confidence in our IT

infrastructure” states Andy Perkins. “We chose Abtec as we were

impressed with the company’s professionalism and

conscientiousness. The company really understands our business

and we’ve been delighted with the company’s depth of expertise”

Andy affirms.

“Abtec has restored our

management’s and staff’s confidence in our

IT infrastructure”

Abtec Network Systems Ltd www.abtecnet.com 01858 438 500

Abtec provided:

• Cisco servers • Dell SAN • VMware vSphere • Veeam back up • Professional services • Backup Exec • Token based support

The Solution Abtec recommended a number of changes to improve CSL’s IT

resilience. Using VMware vSphere, Abtec virtualised its server

environment. The team installed a Dell Storage Area Network

(SAN) device. Implementing shared storage means that if a

single server fails, other servers still have access to that data.

Abtec reused some of the existing server infrastructure at one

of CSL’s remote premises. Veeam’s backup and replication

software enables the daily disk backups to be tested and

recovered offsite, even individual files and folders can be

recovered very simply.

Abtec Network Systems Ltd www.abtecnet.com 01858 438 500

The aim of an IT business continuity plan is to provide a blueprint of how your organisation will still operate under adverse conditions. Building a plan will take some time; it will involve the evaluation of your entire organisation and its external stakeholders. Remember, Abtec has years of experience building plans, our knowledge could help you create a comprehensive plan much quicker.

Abtec Network Systems: Case Study Building a Plan

STEP

1

Questions to ask Who is sponsoring the programme? Who do we need in the team?

Building and maintaining a BCP will require an effective project management team. Senior management sponsorship is essential too, without that you’ll have difficulty building the team.

Outcome A sponsor and project team.

Create the team.

Questions to ask What products and services do we have? What do we have to contractually provide to our clients? What IT services are required to produce these products and services? What would the impact of disruption be after 24 hours, one week and two weeks?

Identifying the risks are to your key products and services with help begin to build a plan to mitigate those risks. In this step you will first identify what your key products and services are, and then analyse the risks associated with disruptions to these services.

Outcome Documented list of products and services in order of priority. This should record the maximum tolerable period of disruption for each service. Also, it should identify the IT resources required to maintain that product or service at the base acceptable level.

Analysing your organisation.

STEP

2

Questions to ask What are the organisation’s general IT risks? Are there any risks specific to each service? What are the probabilities of these risks occurring?

Analysing the likely risks of disruption for each service is a necessity. There are general risks, for example losing a data network connection, which could affect all products however there could be risks specific to one product or service. It is valuable to prioritise these risks based on the probability of occurrence and impact.

Outcome A detailed risk assessment

Understanding the risks.

STEP

3

Abtec Network Systems Ltd www.abtecnet.com 01858 438 500

Abtec Network Systems: Case Study Building a Plan

STEP

4

Questions to ask What services are in the market to mitigate our risks? How easy are those services to use? What are the costs of those services?

By this point you’ve identified your key products and services, the IT resources required to produce and maintain these and the risks that could disrupt the production of these services. This stage of the process is concerned with how to mitigate the risks that you’ve identified. As you’d expect having an up to date knowledge of both available technology and its ease of use is paramount for this stage. That’s where Abtec can help.

Outcome A list of services that can mitigate your risks, along with the appropriate budgets for those services..

Developing the plan.

Questions to ask Does this plan meet our needs? Have we informed every one of the plan? How do we test the plan?

A BCP plan that no one knows about is as much use as not having one. The plan has to be tested and reviewed to ensure that it is fit for purpose. Once the plan has been agreed it then needs to be implemented across your organisation. Just like a fire drill test, testing the BCP plan will increase your preparedness if the worst should happen.

Outcome Various risk scenarios that can be put to the test. Fully documented BCP, regular reviews of that plan.

Test and implement the plan.

STEP

5

Abtec Network Systems: Case Study Choosing the right backup

With so many different backup technologies in the market, it can be confusing identifying the right one for you. Here are some of the questions we ask our clients to help select the best backup technology for them. If you need advice about backups contact Abtec on 01858 438 500.

No

Do you have a secondary location for

backup?

Do you want to use this as

a DR site?

Yes

Yes

Storage Area Network Great way of backing up data offsite. Ideal for BCP, data replication can be done in real time. Good for organisations with business critical applications as they can improve application availability and resilience. Fast recovery times.

No

Network Attached Storage Collection of hard drives connected to a LAN. Used to serve files for users on that network. Data can be automatically backed up to a central point. Low cost storage; great option for backing up and sharing files.

Yes

Enterprise cloud storage Remote storage; usually held in third party data centres. Those with large volumes of data may wish to avoid internet connected clouds as retrieving data can take an age. Good option if you have lots of bandwidth.

Do you have lots of

available bandwidth at

your site?

No

Tape backup LTO-6, the latest standard in tape drives, has breathed new life into this established technology. Up to 6.25 TB can now be stored on one tape, after compression. Ideal for businesses with a single site.

We are now an authorised supplier for the UK Government’s Broadband Connection Voucher scheme. The scheme enables certain small to medium enterprises to claim up to £3,000 for the installation of a faster internet connection. It’s ideal for businesses that want to get more from the internet. Abtec has a team of Broadband Connection Voucher champions that can help businesses identify if they are eligible for the vouchers, the team can be contacted on 01858 438 548.

Abtec joins Broadband Connection Voucher scheme

Abtec Network Systems Ltd www.abtecnet.com 01858 438 500

Abtec Network Systems: Case Study In Brief

Green nomination for Abtec

Abtec Building Technologies, our sister organisation,

has received a prestigious award for it’s work in

creating one of the World’s greenest building, the

Crystal. This iconic, East London building was

opened to the public last year.

The company was a finalist in the the KNX

International Project 2014 awards, a building

automation industry accolade. “It’s fantastic to see

Abtec’s energy reduction expertise recognised in this

landmark building” says Dave Watkins, MD of Abtec

Building Technologies.

Read all about the project in this new case study.