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Disaster recovery (DR) is not much dissimilar to insurance; it is like a net that protects when things start going wrong. Ever since al Qaeda terrorists brought down the World Trade Center, DR and business continuity have become a hot topic of discussion globally. Organizations do not want to risk all their eggs in a single location. Thus, of late, the market for DR and business continuity has been exploding. Every organization or corporate, has either a DR strategy in place, or is putting it up.
DR for many means simply putting up a mirror data center at a different location. But in essence, it goes much beyond. It is an alternative strategy in place rather than mere alternative infrastructure. IBM is pretty active in this space and is currently working with quite a few clients in India. Maneesh Tripathi, Security Services & Business Continuity & recovery Service Product Line Executive, Global Technology Services, IBM (Asia Pacific) spoke to Shashwat Chaturvedi from CyberMedia News about how the DR market is shapely up globally and where does India stand. Excerpts.
How is the DR market spacing up globally?
DR and business continuity in many ways are quite ‘fashionable’ terms these days. Most of the corporates, if they do not have a DR strategy in place, are in the process of putting up one. IBM has been working in this space for the past 25 years or more. The whole concept has become more pervasive with the so many natural disasters taking place. In this globalized world, it is imperative for a company to be prepared for any eventuality.
 Is there a crying need for companies to spend on things like business continuity?
The need for DR or business continuity varies from one company to another. For instance, DR requirements of a cobbler in China are quite different from say a bank like Citibank. If the banks networks are down even for a few minutes, its stands to lose millions, meanwhile the cobbler can very well afford such troubles. Big multinationals already have such practices in place. In fact we are seeing a shift to next level from DR to business continuity and now to business resilience.
What are the factors driving the adoption of DR?
Natural disasters like tsunami, earthquake or even the SARS attack is a trigger event, which makes people think about DR. A lot of DR is also being necessitated by compliance and regulatory requirements. For, instance Sarbanes Oxley require a company to save data for as many days.
How is the Indian market shaping up vis-à-vis other Asian markets?
Indian clients are waking up to the need of DR. Outsourcing companies that had to comply with various regulatory and corporate rules and legislations drove a lot of this. But over a period of time, companies are waking up to the need of DR and business continuity. India is a good growing market compared to other countries in the Asia-Pacific. While in countries like Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, the awareness is fairly high. Malaysia, India and Hong Kong are the growing markets for DR. Not surprisingly, China is ahead of the pack in this segment. Surprisingly, Japan seems to tail behind the rest. The companies in Japan are quite conservative and seem to lag in terms of DR adoption.
How many customers do you have in India?
Our customer base in India is growing. Most of the banks and telecom companies are currently adopting DR solutions. We have close to 10 clients in India, exclusively for DR and business continuity.
© CyberMedia News
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