>
> Two points--based on the information I've read about the situation and
> other articles, customers were able to request items to be moved by
> calling Iron Mountain before the event--these items were then moved to
> another location.
This article was posted in Computerworld online on September 2, 05. From the
article:
"He also said he has been unable to get a response from Boston-based Iron
Mountain Inc., which handles off-site data storage for SCP. The area around
Iron Mountain's Kenner, La., storage facility is flooded and inaccessible,
said Babco, who added that he would have liked to have had SCP's backup
tapes sent to Dallas in advance of the storm."
No telling when SCP began attempting to contact IM from the article, seeing
as it isn't specifically stated, but it says he grabbed his emergency manual
and headed for Dallas on Aug. 27 and was working to bring servers on-line
and on the 30th had to make a trip back to grab some application servers at
HQ (Covington, LA). But he said he was unable to reach them, and IM's
comment was:
"Ken Rubin, senior vice president of marketing for Iron Mountain, said he
doesn't know why Babco didn't get a response from his company."
There is no information stating this guy ever did that before the event--
> so his stuff was moved to higher ground inside the facility. Who's fault
> is this?
You're right, the timeline doesn't specifically state that he contacted IM
prior to the hurricane hitting NOLA to request his tapes be moved out of
harm's way... not that he should have to, as it's the responsibility of the
contracted third-party service provider to ensure they aren't in harm's way
and although IM stated:
"...Iron Mountain began responding to disaster alerts from customers on Aug.
26 and moved requested tapes to customer off-site facilities."
It shouldn't have needed to hear from clients that hey wanted assets moved
to THEIR facilities, they should have had plans to either move them within
their OWN facility to to other facilities that wouldn't have been impacted.
As mentioned before, what struck me as odd were these comments:
"...Iron Mountain proactively went to the facilities before the hurricane
struck and moved all the data tapes to higher shelves in preparation for
flooding. Now, Rubin said, his company is working with authorities to get
back into the four data storage facilities in New Orleans. "We don't know
once the levies broke what impact or not there is to any of the content of
the building. We are trying to get in," he said."
Why were the tapes on lower shelves that could have possibly been subject to
damage from flooding in the first place? I mean there are standards in
NFPA232 that require paper records to be stored a minimum of 3" above the
ground to ensure they don't sit in water in the event of a discharge from a
sprinkler system and if you KNOW your facility is in the flood plain, then
why would you knowingly store records, especially data tapes, in positions
on racks that would put them at risk? It's just common sense...
And for the owner and operator of a facility to not know what impact the
levees breaking might have on the facility is difficult to comprehend. A
firm of this size in this business should have site planners that evaluate
the Army Corp of Engineers drawings to determine where the facility is
within the 100 year flood plain and know the possible risks. I know I always
have asked that question when evaluating storage facilities for my
organizations and/or clients and the operators ALWAYS know.
Also, does anyone honestly think employees would head straight to a flooded
> facility given the situation?
I don't recall anyone making this suggestion.
Also, based on other postings, you seem to have an ax to grind with Iron
> Mountain? How come?
Just your interpretation, Bill. I think there have been plenty of instances
where IM has been involved in less than stellar business practices that
involve RIM. Just because you're the biggest, doesn't always mean you're the
best. I think in many instances it's another case of the "Emperor's New
Clothes".
Larry
--
Larry Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
|
