BlackBerry Disaster Preparedness & Recovery

Tracy DentWireless Solutions Architect

Research In Motion

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Are You Prepared?

• Always on & Always Connected– Today’s workers are more mobile– Disasters may be unpredictable, but preparing for them is not– Mobile devices can be last line of communication in case of disaster

• Every business needs to prepare for the disasters– It doesn’t matter whether you have a BlackBerry server or not– Create strategies for availability of service

• If you have a BlackBerry server, design it with additional capacity for moving users around if need be

• If not running a BlackBerry server, consider giving key users SIM cards with phone numbers from nearby area codes

• Be ready to act when measures require action

• What’s at stake?– Money!– Customers– Future business

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Why Not Have a Plan?

• To not plan for outages or system failures is not an option anymore

– Don’t think just about what you can control, but also what you can’t• Phone carriers will be affected – be sure you know what their plans are

or their recommendations are in the event of a disaster.

• Mission Critical means “Always Available”– These days, email and BlackBerry are “must haves”. – Smaller businesses may want to consider hosting of email and

BlackBerry– Hosting services are very conscious of disaster planning– For BlackBerry servers, a simple backup is still a plan– Test what you can.– Have an agreement with a company that does hosting to be your

disaster recovery site for email and BlackBerry – 3rd Party Vendors offer enhancements and more

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What else can you do to protect yourself?

• Build the best possible strategy you can with the tools the vendor gives you.

– That could be with BlackBerry tools if you own a server, or with the tools the carrier or hosting service provides.

• Communicate to employees how to use BlackBerry when disaster or outages strike

– PIN2PIN, SMS, Emergency Contact Lists, etc• Supplement your environment with 3rd party tools wherever

and whenever possible– Provide byte level replication of entire servers or server farms to

other locations.– If you own a BlackBerry server, there are 3rd party solutions that

provide tools for communication during a disaster

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What about BlackBerry Internet Users?

• BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS)– Does not require a server inside your company for BlackBerry – Works with carriers internet services and your personal email

• Disaster Preparedness with BIS– Encourage users to keep each other’s PIN #’s and Phone #’s

• If BIS email access down, PIN to PIN should still work, as well as SMS• Utilize some sort of Emergency Contact List if possible

– Consider 3rd party servers that enhance PIN to PIN communication during outages and offer document management

– Dependent on Carrier network availability• They go down, you go down

– PIN to PIN and SMS messages are options• Instant delivery• Could incur additional charges

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3rd Party Resources

• BlackBerry Partner Solutions Guide– https://www.blackberry.com/SolutionsGuide/index.do

• Server recovery and failover– Neverfail – Neverfail, Inc. - www.neverfailgroup.com/products/nfblackberry.asp

• Byte level data protection via continuous replication

• Ensures minimal data loss with immediate recovery capabilities

• Seamless switchback capabilities

– Double-Take – NSI Software – www.doubletake.com

• Byte level data protection via continuous replication

• Ensures minimal data loss with immediate recovery capabilities

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3rd Party Resources, cont…

• Server recovery and failover– OneSwitch – MessageOne, Inc -

www.messageone.com/application-availability/blackb

• Single push of a button to fail over entire BlackBerry server• Byte level data replication

• Emergency Contact Services– RIM provides free Emergency Contact List applications for .NET,

Java, and Domino (requires BlackBerry Enterprise Server)– MetaMessage Emergency Communications – Onset Technology -

www.METAmessage.com• Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP)• Emergency Contact Lists• Emergency Operations Document Mgt• PIN to PIN communication server

• Check with your Carrier Partner– They may have wireless apps/tools available for server based

customers and BIS users