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BlackBerry Disaster Preparedness & Recovery Tracy Dent Wireless Solutions Architect Research In Motion Are You Prepared? Always on & Always Connected Today’s workers are more mobile Disasters may be unpredictable, but preparing for them is not
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BlackBerryDisaster Preparedness & RecoveryTracy DentWireless Solutions ArchitectResearch In Motion
Are You Prepared? • Always on & Always Connected • Today’s workers are more mobile • Disasters may be unpredictable, but preparing for them is not • Mobile devices can be last line of communication in case of disaster • Every business needs to prepare for the disasters • It doesn’t matter whether you have a BlackBerry server or not • Create strategies for availability of service • If you have a BlackBerry server, design it with additional capacity for moving users around if need be • If not running a BlackBerry server, consider giving key users SIM cards with phone numbers from nearby area codes • Be ready to act when measures require action • What’s at stake? • Money! • Customers • Future business
Why Not Have a Plan? • To not plan for outages or system failures is not an option anymore • Don’t think just about what you can control, but also what you can’t • Phone carriers will be affected – be sure you know what their plans are or their recommendations are in the event of a disaster. • Mission Critical means “Always Available” • These days, email and BlackBerry are “must haves”. • Smaller businesses may want to consider hosting of email and BlackBerry • Hosting services are very conscious of disaster planning • For BlackBerry servers, a simple backup is still a plan • Test what you can. • Have an agreement with a company that does hosting to be your disaster recovery site for email and BlackBerry • 3rd Party Vendors offer enhancements and more
What else can you do to protect yourself? • Build the best possible strategy you can with the tools the vendor gives you. • That could be with BlackBerry tools if you own a server, or with the tools the carrier or hosting service provides. • Communicate to employees how to use BlackBerry when disaster or outages strike • PIN2PIN, SMS, Emergency Contact Lists, etc • Supplement your environment with 3rd party tools wherever and whenever possible • Provide byte level replication of entire servers or server farms to other locations. • If you own a BlackBerry server, there are 3rd party solutions that provide tools for communication during a disaster
What about BlackBerry Internet Users? • BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) • Does not require a server inside your company for BlackBerry • Works with carriers internet services and your personal email • Disaster Preparedness with BIS • Encourage users to keep each other’s PIN #’s and Phone #’s • If BIS email access down, PIN to PIN should still work, as well as SMS • Utilize some sort of Emergency Contact List if possible • Consider 3rd party servers that enhance PIN to PIN communication during outages and offer document management • Dependent on Carrier network availability • They go down, you go down • PIN to PIN and SMS messages are options • Instant delivery • Could incur additional charges
3rd Party Resources • BlackBerry Partner Solutions Guide • https://www.blackberry.com/SolutionsGuide/index.do • Server recovery and failover • Neverfail – Neverfail, Inc. - www.neverfailgroup.com/products/nfblackberry.asp • Byte level data protection via continuous replication • Ensures minimal data loss with immediate recovery capabilities • Seamless switchback capabilities • Double-Take – NSI Software –www.doubletake.com • Byte level data protection via continuous replication • Ensures minimal data loss with immediate recovery capabilities
3rd Party Resources, cont… • Server recovery and failover • OneSwitch – MessageOne, Inc - www.messageone.com/application-availability/blackb • Single push of a button to fail over entire BlackBerry server • Byte level data replication • Emergency Contact Services • RIM provides free Emergency Contact List applications for .NET, Java, and Domino (requires BlackBerry Enterprise Server) • MetaMessage Emergency Communications – Onset Technology - www.METAmessage.com • Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) • Emergency Contact Lists • Emergency Operations Document Mgt • PIN to PIN communication server • Check with your Carrier Partner • They may have wireless apps/tools available for server based customers and BIS users