PivIT Global Blog

Why Network Maintenance Is Crucial During Natural Disasters

Natural disasters are increasing both in terms of intensity and frequency.

For IT enterprises like telecommunication companies or data centers, taking preventative measures for such disasters is essential. While you can’t control nature, you can take action to minimize the damage it causes to your critical networks.

Trend in the number of natural disasters from 1900 to 2019

The recent Hurricane Ian that hit Florida left many telecommunication and internet providers scrambling to get their services back on track. Many companies faced wireline outages because of damage from strong winds and rain, creating service outages for hundreds of thousands of customers. 

During this hurricane, the impact was on the outer infrastructure. But when push comes to shove, natural disasters can also impact main hubs where all your equipment may be present.

In this article, we will:

  • Discuss the costs of downtime.
  • Explain how network maintenance can help.
  • Outline how organizations can prepare for natural disasters.

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Understanding the Costs of Downtime

No matter how an outage happens, it’s never good news. The true cost of downtime of a network may vary from industry to industry and company to company. 

In one survey, 25 percent of respondents reported the cost of one hour of downtime between $301,000 and $400,000, while 17 percent reported it as upwards of $5 million.

Understandably, downtime of services like cable, cellular, and internet is sometimes expected, especially during natural disasters like storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, or floods. Nevertheless, the lost revenue from the downtime can put a dent in overall revenue and growth. 

For international enterprises, any outage can have ripple effects elsewhere. As the world is so interconnected, downtime in one region may cause interruptions in your network in other locations. 

Moreover, extended downtime can also stain the enterprise's reputation, especially for B2B companies like data centers or cloud providers that other businesses rely on. Today, consumers expect 100 percent uptime and uninterrupted services. 

How Can Network Maintenance Help During Natural Disasters?

Your network is only as good as its components. In other words, if you’re infrastructure is reliable, your network will be resilient. 

But where does maintenance come into all of this? 

A well-maintained network with backup and spares can get up and running even when nature gets aggressive. Prevention is essential, but so is having contingency plans for when preventive measures fail. 

Reliable Equipment

Maintaining your equipment, particularly the critical network parts, can help keep your overall infrastructure healthy. One of the many benefits of network maintenance is preventing outages. 

Of course, regardless of how new your equipment is or how well it works, downtime may be inevitable if it gets damaged during natural emergencies. Still, well-maintained equipment may be easier to back up than devices with existing issues or operating way past their service life. 

Spare Devices

Spare devices are more relevant aspects of maintenance directly linked with a disaster recovery plan for your network. You may face shorter downtime if you have dedicated backup devices to get your network up and running. 

There’s only so much you can do to prevent natural disasters from impacting your premises. You also need to think of recovery in case your preventative measures fail. That’s where having a backup of critical devices can come in handy. 

Those backup devices shouldn’t be located on the same premises. Otherwise, they may also get damaged. You have to strategically choose another location that’s secure but also not too far, so you have the equipment at hand to fix the network. 

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Data Backups

Another critical element of network maintenance is having backups for data. This is obviously all the more important for data centers whose business hinges on data. 

You need to have off-site backups of all the data. You can access the backup if any accident or natural disaster results in data loss. 

When we talk about backing up data, we don’t mean the data that lives on the servers or storage but also the data that the network produces. The performance data you may be collecting from your network should be backed up somewhere safe. Similarly, you should back up data like network architecture plans. 

Ways to Prepare for Natural Disasters

While network maintenance would help you immensely during the recovery phase, taking steps to prevent damage from natural disasters can also go a long way. 

Choose Locations Strategically

Depending on your business niche and consumers, you may want to locate your network in a central location. Nevertheless, choosing areas not as prone to natural disasters is best. 

Aside from the region or city, where your infrastructure is located in the premises is also important. You don’t want your servers or data storage equipment near windows or doors. You also don’t want it in the basement or ground level to prevent flood damage. 

Backup Power

Even if a natural disaster doesn’t impact your facility, it might result in power outages, which, in turn, could cause downtime for you if you don’t have reliable backup power solutions. 

Your network maintenance strategy should include implementing an uninterrupted power supply to critical components. These backup power solutions should last up to 24 hours, preferably even longer. 

Devise Network Recovery Plan

You should have a detailed network recovery plan, including steps to fix the network and backup data. It should have contingency plans for all possible scenarios, including outside cyberattacks, internal threats, accidents, and natural disasters. 

Revisiting, analyzing, and improving the network disaster recovery plan is also imperative and should form a cornerstone of your maintenance strategy. 

Environmental Monitoring

More and more data centers are leveraging the latest technology to better prepare for natural calamities. In many cases, you may have ample warning ahead of a disaster, for example, in the case of rain or hurricanes. 

With monitoring and predictive analysis, teams responsible for maintaining the infrastructure can make critical decisions quickly. 

Furthermore, data centers and other enterprises that rely on critical networks can monitor weather data to detect natural disasters that could impact their operations, even if those events don’t directly affect their facilities. Artificial intelligence can help warn of impending disasters and create contingency plans. 

Rely on OneCall for Maintenance

IT enterprises are often torn between manufacturers and third-party providers regarding network maintenance. But what good is either if they cannot provide the equipment you need in time? 

OneCall by PivIT is a comprehensive IT infrastructure maintenance program designed for dynamic, multi-vendor enterprises like today’s telecommunication companies, data centers, and internet service providers. 

OneCall allows you to maintain your critical equipment, even legacy. You can even take the hybrid approach, retaining OEM support for new equipment. 

Its Sparing Integrity Program sets PivIT apart in disaster planning for your network. With this program, you can have spare devices dedicated to your business and housed in a secure location near your location. 

If disaster strikes and a device malfunctions, you can be sure its replacement is present. It may reach you in just a few hours with PivIT’s unparalleled short service level agreements. 

Maintenance can be a headache even in the good times, let alone in times of disaster. Investing in network maintenance by professionals ensures that your network is up and running, even during a natural disaster.

Request a quote today and find out how OneCall can strengthen your network and help your company prepare for emergencies!

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