IBM invests in continuity facility

IBM is to invest €8.6 million in an expansion of its existing business continuity and recovery services (BCRS) facility on its Mulhuddart, Co Dublin campus.

BCRS facilities provide a backup and recovery service for companies in the case of disruptions ranging from minor problems, such as a short-term electricity blackout, to catastrophes like natural disasters or terrorist attacks.

Such facilities can provide anything from office space and desks for displaced workers, to an automatic switchover to duplicate information technology systems and internet operations.

The site will double the number of recovery seats, provide up to 300 people to offer services and will significantly increase the number of services available for Irish-based clients, said Tom Walsh, head of IBM Ireland BCRS. The Dublin facility can fit 700 displaced employees.

"We could see demand for our services was growing and we asked the corporation to help us put this in place," he said.

"We needed the increased capacity, and also there were business drivers for this expansion, especially a change in the business environment."

New regulations mean companies need a more protected environment with backup and data storage facilities, he said.

Companies are running more critical software applications round the clock and also conduct many transactions essential to their businesses over the internet, so uninterrupted operations are essential.

IBM now has three such facilities in Ireland, two in Dublin and one in Cork, and over 140 BCRS facilities worldwide.

Business recovery services were worth $2.2 billion (€1.88 billion) worldwide last year and will grow at 6.2 per cent year on year through 2007, according to analyst IDC. Industry analysts here estimate that disaster recovery services are worth €15 million per annum in Ireland and growing.

Mr Gaddum said that the cost of downtime for a retail brokerage or a bank can run as high as $6.5 million per hour, while a computer-based airline reservation system, or an online shopfront, will run in the region of $90,000 an hour.