Does manufacturing sector lagging in IT continuity preparedness?

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Bangalore: Manufacturing firms in the Southern Cone are lagging in terms of IT continuity preparation. The IT systems of many manufacturing companies would be exposed in the event of a natural disaster, as their technologies are primarily hardware-based. Carrying out a disaster recovery plan may pose administration difficulties when a company attempts to transfer information between different hardware units, which are oftentimes inflexible, according to the executive. Talking to BNamericas, VMware's Commercial Manager for the Southern Cone, Pedro Vignola said, "These are the companies that have taken longer to adopt new technologies." Traditionally, the IT employees within these companies have viewed technology as an expenditure. Meanwhile, companies without a backup data center may end up in hot water in the event of an earthquake, flood or other disaster of natural causes. In the case of Chile, the geographic concentration of data centers represents an additional challenge to IT continuity, as most companies choose to keep such facilities in Santiago. "It would be better to have a back-up data center," said he. Also, Vignola argued that virtualization allows companies to respond more effectively in the event of a natural disaster, as the technology uses less energy and can automatically transfer client information to data centers not affected by such an event.

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