As hurricane season gets underway technology journalists want to be prepared. So they're running stories about disaster recovery efforts like this one from NewsFactor or this one from Government Computer News. While these articles tend to follow the same storyline, beginning with September 11, tossing in the Lessons of Katrina and then using a photo or description of an empty office-like building where workers can fly to after a disaster in order to keep a network up and running. Generally, they have one executive who isn't really sure he needs to pay for the insurance of having a place to house his dislocated workers, but who now acknowledges that having backup data plans is Smart Thing To Do.

All of this underlies the idea that in a global economy, snow days don't count anymore. When disaster strikes, or perhaps something just shuts down the office or network, all IT hands must be on deck, ready to roll to the nearest bunker to restore the technology infrastructure. I know this is something IT folks sign up for when they take their jobs, but at the same time I have to wonder if there were a natural disaster, wouldn't these folks like to be with their families? Or if IT was so important (and it clearly is because as one guys puts it, "Downtime is lost business.") then why aren't these workers revered in the corporate culture, much like we revere firefighters or police officers in times of emergency.

We take for granted that our e-mail, our computers and definitely our networks will be up and running, but when they aren't, we whine and complain about those lazy IT folks or deride them for making us wait for support. Perhaps, instead we should consider how important connectivity really is and accord the folks who maintain it the respect they deserve, especially if they're the ones flying to remote data centers in times of disaster just to keep the company up and running. — Stacey Higginbotham

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