There were several data centers around Ground Zero that were wiped out on Sept. 11, 2001, and the data of dozens of organizations was lost. In the years since, backup data centers, once considered very expensive, have become the norm for enterprises, but that does not mean that companies are necessarily paying better attention to safeguarding their information, writes Chris Preimesberger at eWeek.

Three things in the world of data storage have changed since 9/11: It is faster and less tedious to store data because network bandwidth generally is higher; less archived data is kept on physical tape; and storage devices now have much greater capacity, Preimesberger writes. The biggest results of these changes have been virtualized storage and subscription-based cloud storage offerings. 

Prior to 9/11, distributed disaster recovery was mainly a function of private networks, and it was implemented primarily by large enterprises and those with high-transaction operations. But since then, the largest storage vendors and telephone companies all provide some kind of storage offering in the cloud, and many start-ups have entered the arena with low-cost alternatives.

According to analysts, 30 percent of IT departments lack disaster recovery systems or fail to understand their correct usage. "Even if a shop does have a DR apparatus in place and tests it occasionally, there are many examples of such systems not performing according to plan. If such a disaster were to occur, many of those companies would be out of business," Preimesberger writes.

For more:
- see Chris Preimesberger's article at eWeek

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