![](https://www.techmonitor.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2016/08/UploadsNewsArticle4931569main.jpg)
Redundancy, in a very simply way, is about having a plan B for when IT systems go down.
This plan B is built on duplication of critical components and backup systems that come into action when power or other critical components that keep a system running fail.
The idea is to increase reliability of systems and avoid huge losses cause by downtime.
In the data centre industry, redundancy is one of the top criteria for sites, as downtime can cost between a few thousands to several millions of pounds depending on how long systems are down.
Systems failures can be down to many different scenarios, running from human errors, software issues to terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
In computing, redundancy also comes in different segments.
There is hardware redundancy, which includes dual modular redundancy and triple modular redundancy.
Elsewhere, there is also information redundancy, such as error detection and correction methods, time redundancy, and software redundancy.
As the world digitises and depends ever more on technology, redundancy is becoming a pillar to any business and organisation.