Quoting m-net
IT managers are increasingly thinking about calamities - SARS, Avian bird flu, terrorist attacks and extreme weather - and in New Zealand, you can add earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to that list.
It seems pessimistic, but IT managers need to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. And so far, events this century have underlined the sense of this approach.
According to Hong Kong-based Citrix Systems Pacific vice president Dennis W Rose, the terror attacks of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, SARS and the Avian bird flu scare have all concentrated IT minds on disaster planning.
In New Zealand recently talking to Citrix partners and resellers, Rose says businesses concerned about disaster planning are increasingly looking at the benefits of centralised application virtualisation.
While the driver might be to enable remote workers to securely access a central server from anywhere at any time, virtualisation also means an organisation can continue operating, even if its workers cannot make it into the office due to a local or national disaster, or merely through seriously clogged roads (something that froze access for hours into Auckland about two years ago).
Major New Zealand organisations, including ACC, LINZ and Fisher & Paykel, use Citrix technology for remote access: ACC claims adjustors are increasingly reliant on the technology; LINZ finds it indispensable for updating geographic data from remote locations; and F&P uses it to process orders from around the globe.
A key to the Citrix application virtualisation is its WanScaler technology that accelerates application performance across wide area networks (WAN) by an average of five to thirty times, and up to 300 times at peak compression efficiency.
This technology is especially suitable for businesses dealing with data-heavy application like architects, publishers and studios, such as Wellington's Weta.
Rose explains that algorithms developed by Citrix allows for the highest compression currently available and was one factor enabling workers on Hong Kong's underground rail system to continue working during the SARS scare a few years ago.
"There was widespread fear about infection, but our system allowed people to work from home, and even to work from public computers. That's because our system does not leave cookies or any cache on public computers once it is shut down. You could even complete your online banking from an internet café without worrying that some one else will steal your details."
Rose says one of the benefits of virtualisation is allowing workers to access a central server without actually having applications on their laptop or home computer. This means they only deal with the raw data, not the software as well, drastically reducing the amount of data being sent via their connection. What's more, having software centralised on one server in the datacentre means IT managers can reduce costs associated with separate licences.
But what happens if the data centre is hit by an earthquake? Rose answers that signing up to datacentre services, like the one run by Unisys in Kapiti, easily resolves this issue.
Citrix Systems specialises in application delivery infrastructure and has over 180,000 clients worldwide, including 100 per cent of Fortune 100 companies. It currently has over 1000 customers in New Zealand.
Read the original, here.