Here's the scenario: your company has found a way to run its primary business management/accounting software via the web. You've found a host , you've moved the software and data, you've got the bandwidth and everyone is happy. No more internal servers, no more network to manage, just a bunch of PC's connected to a fat pipe.
Your professionally managed host has sophisticated network management skills and you are confident in your decision to move everything off site. Then, one day you learn that someone has bought your host. The email indicates that you'll experience no disruption of service, etc.
Here's the question: what if something happens to your host? What arrangements should you make for a daily, weekly, monthly copy of your data? Should you and the host agree that a tape is going to the lockbox every Friday night? What if the host is in another city? Do you want a tape delivered via FedEx each Monday morning? Can you catch up from a week-old tape?
Who do you trust and how much do you trust? The outsourced ASP model is an attractive concept. Do you trust it with the total financial and information base of your company?
IBM touts new backup services. Big Blue is set to announce the new service, which will allow companies to get their computer systems back up and running quickly in the case of a disaster. [CNET News.com]
