Across the Northeast U.S. at the end of October, hundreds, if not thousands, of disaster recovery and business continuity plans were dusted off and fired up as Hurricane Sandy bore down on the area. Power was out across much of the area. Many data centers were able to continue operations, but many businesses were closed due to concerns about employees' safety and their ability to get to work.
The New York Stock Exchange closed to 2 days – not because of any potential IT outages, as the exchange had a contingency plan to continue operations virtually. The exchange's management said business was closed due to the potential inability of employees to staff and monitor the operations. No matter how well prepared companies are from a technology standpoint for disaster, the human side is still the ultimate test for even the best-laid DR/BC plans. To stay on top of all the trends, subscribe to Database Trends and Applications magazine.