Technology Investment Yields Big Results

December, 2003

Winston-Salem, N.C. -- Andy Brown, co-founder of DataChambers, recalls his tenure at IBM. “A contractor accidentally tripped the Emergency Power Off switch during routine maintenance. The whole computer room was off and we were down about three days.” This incident illustrates the broader potential market for disaster recovery and business continuity services. “Most of the time it's just a simple accident that causes a costly interruption in business, but unfortunately, only ten percent of companies in the U.S. are prepared,” said Brown.

According to the Disaster Recovery Journal, “The typical everyday IT emergencies don't make very suspenseful movie plots, but these seemingly mundane incidents have the potential of placing an enterprise into Chamber 11.” Globalcontinuity.com (GCC) reports:

• “The number of reported computer security incidents has grown from 6 in 1988 to over 73,000 by September, 2002.
• Internet-based attacks cost US companies over $350 billion annually.
• Eighty percent of companies admitted having information losses.
• Almost one third of businesses reported activating their business continuity plans.
• The most common crises reported were not terrorism or warfare, but flooding, power outages and systems failures.”

About The Facility

DataChambers is headquartered in a nondescript beige brick building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. An outside observer would not suspect either the level of security or the level of technology investment and functionality contained in the building. Lawrence Boening is the President and Chief Operating Officer of DataChambers, and a 17-year veteran in technology business management and project implementation. "We are a full-service disaster recovery and backup systems provider. In some cases, we manage data up to the applications system layer." He stresses that while the facility and technology investments are impressive, human investment is equally as important. "You have to have expert technologists on staff to provide these offerings. Our staff has experts in not only technology applications, equipment and telecommunications, but also data and facility security," said Boening.

The building housing DataChambers began its life as a coldwar era Western Electric facility that manufactured navigational controls for intercontinental ballistic missiles. As a result, there were significant redundant infrastructures and a hardened bunker built into the construction. DataChambers occupies 138,000 square feet of the 829,000 square foot complex. "It is the combination of our investment in technology and people, coupled with the built-in capability of the existing facility that made our business possible," said Boening.

The above-ground stories contain offices, hard-copy records storage areas and 80,000 square feet of business continuity seating area. At present, the business continuity area has the capacity for 200 seats and is fully wired for telecommunications and computer network capability. The space can also be modularized to pods with sound absorbing panels of various sizes in order to segregate various businesses that may be operating in the area at the same time. "We have seating for 200 persons now, but will build out up to 1,000 seats as demand requires," said Boening. The facility also boasts 17 acres of parking area. In the event of a large-scale disaster and full occupancy of all 1,000 seats in the business continuity area - massive parking areas would be required. This need has been anticipated in the facility design.

The most impressive area of the facility rests 22 feet underground. The 44,000 square foot data center area, tape vault, evaulting and telecommunications areas are housed inside a hardened concrete bunker six feet thick lined with lead. The cold-war designed facility was intended to survive a nuclear attack. Redundant HVAC systems for data center areas are temperature and humidity controlled. The facility is a transmission- level customer and boasts its own electrical substation, redundant 20,000 KVA transformers, redundant power generation systems, UPS systems, and a FM200 gas fire suppression system with a dry-pipe emergency sprinkler backup. "When the FM200 gas suppression system fires, it is gone. If there is a reflash, what is going to put the fire out?" asked Boening. Redundancy of systems is an important component of the facility design. "The key to uninterrupted service is redundancy," Boening said. "Our method is 'need plus one' so that there is always a backup." This redundancy extends so far as to A & B power sources that are redundant at the rack level.

This redundancy also extends to telecommunications infrastructure. In addition to fiber optic buried cable on diverse and redundant paths, DataChambers is a full service carrier hotel for telecom circuits. The site currently hosts three telecom termination points and has a capacity for 15 carriers. "When telecoms are routing traffic they have the capability to bridge carriers at our facility. If one carrier wants to connect to another, they have that capability through our secure node," Boening said.

Facility Security

In addition to the formidable construction items, DataChambers has also enhanced every element of their facility's security system. Exterior cameras patrol the entire perimeter of the facility. The entrance is a camera controlled man-trap with sign in area. All interior corridors and passageways are monitored by motion sensitive cameras. Following an elevator ride to the data center level, multiple additional man-traps are encountered. The primary entry point is serviced by an armed guard.

Of particular interest is the badge control process. "Our above ground badges don't work in the data center," said Boening. "When authorized personnel reach the data center level, they must turn in their above ground badge for a special data center badge. When their work on the data center level is completed, they exchange the badge again for their surface badge."

Locked doors and man traps located on the data center level operate with a combination of key card, key pad and biometric entry systems. All access areas are monitored by motion sensitive cameras which alert the security officers to any movement throughout the facility. Interior passages are also patrolled by armed guards.

DataChambers operates NSA (National Security Agency) Level 3 and Level 4 secure areas. This is a very rigid employee screening protocol which requires: criminal background check, psychological screening, physical fitness requirements, and medical screening. Of particular interest during the screening process are those applicants who demonstrate intelligence, interest and motivation. In addition, employees should be capable of operating under stressful situations and able to communicate well. Each member of the DataChambers security staff must meet one of the following qualifications: former police officer, police academy trained, former military, former military police, former elite forces - military, former federal agency officer, former correction officer or a criminal justice degree. Employees authorized to access level three areas, do not have access to level four areas.

The restrictions on movement within the facility have created some special challenges when moving in client equipment for server mirroring or other functions. DataChambers maintains an isolated loading dock area for equipment entering the data center. Once equipment has been inspected, it is transferred to a staging area by level three personnel. Once all level three personnel have delivered the equipment and performed necessary inspections and verifications, they are removed from the area, which is then secured by armed security personnel. Level four personnel then enter the area, power up equipment in order to run diagnostics and other preparatory functions. Once the equipment has been fully tested and found to be completely operational, Level four personnel transfer the equipment to Level four data areas and install it for use.