The it can’t happen to us, even if it did happen to the Open University (CI No 647) mentality still exists: only 13 sites out of a sample of 180 DEC UK sites polled by Romtec Plc formally subscribe to a computer disaster recovery service according to a survey commissioned by DEC disaster-recovery outfit Allen Computers Ltd of Egham; a further 14 sites said they had formal arrangements with neighbouring companies while 60 more said they would rely on other installations owned by their company if anything went wrong; only two of the 60 said they knew what using the other sites’ equipment would mean in practice; 60 sites admitted to having no contingency plans at all, but Allen says a further 29 – 16% – labour under the dangerous misapprehension that their DEC maintenance contracts include disaster recovery services – they don’t.
