In case of emergency: how reliable is your ISP in a disaster? simple steps can ensure your link to the net survives.(Solutions)(Internet service providers)

WHILE YOU MAY HAVE DISASTER-proofed your network and Internet connection during the 18 months since 9/11, are you equally sure about the stoutness of your Internet service provider? Chances are, disaster recovery wasn't high on your list when you first created your business's Web site. But it makes sense these days to know how vulnerable your ISP is to various attack or disaster scenarios.

You can do several things to evaluate your current ISP's reliability and, if necessary, select another. Start by taking all the fault-tolerance principles your IT managers or consultants apply in-house and ensure that the same or better steps are taken by your ISP. If your Internet connection goes down, your customers and partners will consider it a reflection on your professionalism, so make sure your service provider demands the same standards of excellence you do.

Indeed, sharp ISPs have extensive procedures for dealing with all types of equipment failures and bottlenecks. They have climate-controlled hosting facilities with fire and flood recovery procedures, data redundancy in geographically diverse locations, extra capacity for unusual traffic loads, and procedures to deflect hacker attacks. Ask your ISP for at least a skeletal view of its emergency procedures. No ISP can claim to plan for all emergencies, but it should be able to ...