Here in Texas, we are currently experiencing a rare arctic blast that is causing electrical blackouts in every Texas county. That translates to 254 counties with 28 million people spread across 268,000 square miles. Millions of homeowners and businesses are in lockdown with no power or heat. While the state is normally well prepared for weather contingencies, they overlooked the wind farms. With freezing snow and ice whipping up minus 22-degree wind chills on the Texas plains and Gulf coast, the wind turbines froze, cutting off the power supply feeding the electric grid generators. In addition to jeopardized renewable energy sources, access to coal-generated and gas-generated power was also compromised.
That leaves a question for us … what can we do to disaster proof our IT grid in the event of extreme weather conditions?
- Power Source Backup – Ensure the lights stay on and all systems are working properly with a backup generator that has been properly serviced and maintained. This will mitigate any risks associated with prime power failure. On-site power production should be isolated from the outside power system altogether. [Data Center Knowledge]
- Safe Data Storage – Leverage the cloud to keep your vital data protected during an emergency. Make sure the data is stored in a datacenter disconnected from your network for total protection. [EdTech]
- Damage Control – Have countermeasure safety codes against damages from lightning strikes and/or power surges. A first step is to incorporate a lightning protection system that uses grounded lightning rods or active systems to shunt ion buildup in the immediate atmosphere to ground. This stops the local buildup of a charge that will result in a lightning strike. [Uptime Institute]
A Better Alternative … Managed Cloud Colocation and Hosting
For many organizations, it makes better sense to let outside experts manage their data centers and protect their infrastructure against extreme weather failure or cyber threats. Magna5 offers three solutions to take the burden off IT staffs in ensuring high uptime and data protection.
Colocation – Migrating to Magna5’s secure data center allows organizations to leverage high-speed internet connections, redundant power supplies, high-efficiency cooling systems and remote power capabilities. Managed by our 24/7/365 Operations Center, we ensure the health and security of your cloud environment using a combination of power management, power monitoring, advanced fire suppression and controlled HVAC systems. You will never experience a “single point of failure” that reduces network availability. Multiple layers of security inside our data center protect your business-critical infrastructure against cyber threats or data breach. Regardless of weather emergencies or power outages, we keep your business running in a safe cloud environment.
Cloud Hosting – On-demand compute, storage and security make cloud environments ideal for growing businesses needing secure and scalable resources. Whether needing private, public or hybrid cloud environments for your workloads, Magna5’s cloud hosting can be spun up or down quickly to enable faster time to market or meet seasonal demands. We have partnered with the most robust and secure data centers in the world to protect your cloud from cyber threats or natural disasters. With a high degree of visibility and control, we ensure the health, safety and accessibility of your data.
Cloud Managed Networks – With today’s remote and multi-site workforces demanding anywhere, anytime network access, moving infrastructures to Magna5’s cloud managed networks help organizations gain central visibility into all their cloud-based network systems, applications and devices to ensure reliable uptime and performance. Our cloud managed networks are designed specifically to accommodate today’s digital-savvy workers and can help simplify how organizations monitor, manage and support their IT operations. Fully trained and certified engineers watch your network around the clock … monitoring and correcting network issues before they impact operations.
