Figures released in a Ponemon report showed that data center downtime costs business an average of $7,900 per minute. Because the usual interruption of service lasts some 86 minutes, noted Ponemon, adding up the numbers indicated a roughly $700,000 downtime loss.
Being proactive is a good strategy
Data loss and corruption, loss of reputation and safety issues can all come about from unscheduled downtime and company managers and IT experts told Data Center Knowledge that making sure the data center is in compliance is the first step towards being preemptive in protecting business physical and intellectual assets. Being reactive to unfolding situations is human nature but protecting vital assets like generators that keep power flowing in an emergency or HVAC and UPS are areas where company staff need to be ahead of the curve. Performing maintenance operations before an incident can prevent a disaster from happening, said the Data Center story.
Differences in staff and management perceptions
The Ponemon study revealed a large disparity between upper level company staff and the crews working in the data center and other critical operations. According to that survey, 47 percent of workers from the supervisor level on down believed that unplanned outages were occurring with more frequency in the past two years while 42 percent of upper level management said that wasn’t the case. In another stark example of the disparity between workers and management, only 44 percent of the working respondents said outages were not happening as much while 51 percent of management level staff believed there were more outages during the same time-frame.
Biometrics can help
While staff and management may differ on how many incidents are occurring one thing common sense dictates is the data center must be safe and secure. With new technology exploding, many companies are turning to biometric security to protect their data centers and server cabinets. Biometric technology, when used properly and as directed, can provide companies with staunch and virtually fool-proof security.
While keypads and passwords have all been employed as measures to protect data centers, fingerprint scanning, an ever-evolving biometric security discipline, has been shown to be very effective at maintaining strong access control to sensitive areas.
Password vulnerabilities
An article in the Augusta Chronicle discussed how password confusion and vulnerabilities have companies looking to biometrics for a more permanent and secure solution. The fingerprint scanning method takes a read of an employee’s fingerprints and scans that into a database. because fingerprints are unique to each individual there is virtually no chance for duplication.
When that employee wishes to access a secure part of the facility, they use a fingerprint reader to scan their print. If it matches the one in the database the employee gains access. If not an unauthorized breach of security is prevented and potential costly losses averted.
Downtime is expensive. Data losses are as well and if a company wishes to prevent such losses from impacting their business, the Data Center Knowledge report has a number of additional tips for company executives and IT staffers to look at.
Deploying a biometric security system to enhance data center security and biometric access control can help businesses avert disaster, keep their systems operational and help management and staff see where and when security breaches take place. By having this knowledge a company can minimize its downtime and maximize its security investment to keep productivity at a high level without the danger of unforeseen disasters taking place.
Protective software is evolving rapidly and company executives need to be aware of cutting-edge technology so they can deploy it properly, safely and in the ways that can best keep the data centers and other crucial infrastructure protected for internal and external attack.