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Summer power cuts could threaten Scottish ICT

Michael Feeley | Monday June 16, 2008




Scottish businesses need to ensure that their business continuity plans are tried and tested in the light of recent power outages according to ScoLocate, a leading Scottish commercial data centre and colocation company.

“Companies need to ask themselves how long their organisations could survive without sufficient power for their IT systems as it’s clear this threat is now greater than many imagined,” said Roy Maxwell, managing director, ScoLocate.

“In May, many businesses in Edinburgh experienced local power cuts which in some cases disrupted their ability to conduct their normal business. In addition, on the 29th May thousands of businesses across the UK were affected when the concurrent failure of British Energy's Sizewell-B nuclear power station and Scottish Power's Longannet-1 coal-fired power station caused widespread power cuts. Despite having invested in UPS equipment and generators many organisations experienced outages as the systems had never been fully tested together and failed when called upon in anger. Many companies discovered to their cost that such equipment is extremely complex and needs thorough testing in conditions which simulate an outage to ensure that they can be relied upon in the event of an emergency.”

Maxwell advises companies whose data is mission-critical to consider housing their IT systems and servers in a secure data centre environment. “We have invested millions of pounds in secure, fully resilient power systems, air-conditioning, security and monitoring systems which ensure 100% uptime for our clients. Crucially within ScoLocate these complex systems and how they interact are tested on a regular basis to ensure that when called upon they work seamlessly. So during the recent power outages in Edinburgh and beyond ScoLocate’s client base knew they could trust in the integrity of ScoLocate’s proven systems, processes and people to protect their IT investment.”

www.ScoLocate.com

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