Pictures of terrible events no one thought possible have gone around the world: Catastrophic scenarios such as fire in the main building of the Crédit Lyonnais, the university of Leyden (Netherlands) or in the World Trade Center illustrate only too clearly how the productivity and potential of established companies or organizations can be paralysed for months, even destroyed forever, in only a few minutes.

Be it floods, fire, sabotage, explosions or terrorist acts: the pictures of destruction are devastating. More severe, however, is the immaterial damage. This can be caused by something as banal as major hardware failures or longer power failures. The latter can occur with disturbing frequency if the power supply system is instable.

When a disaster incident is blocking the application areas, data are no longer available, and expensive failure times are imminent, companies can lose their reputation, money, and clients, and in the worst case, even their very existence, in only a matter of days.

(more)