Blackout damages unprotected companies.

Those Storing Data in Protected Facilities Maintain Connectivity During the Outage

The August 14-15 blackout "knocked tens of millions of people back to the pre-digital age," said the The Globe And Mail. The blackout of the East Coast--which ranged as far west as Ohio, and as far east as Connecticut--knocked out power and communications to millions, and sent workers in darkened offices home early. The multiple redundancy systems built into the Internet allowed data communications traffic to continue without a hitch, with data automatically rerouting itself to paths that had not been shut off.

Companies located in the blackout zone that had planned ahead--housing their Internet hosting and critical data with a specially designed carrier hotel--were unfazed by the outage. Though lights were out, mobile phones were dead, and people were starting their long walks home, those companies knew that their Internet presence was still visible, their e-commerce availability was fully viable, and that their critical data was safely guarded. Companies that had not performed such advance planning, however ... well, we'll see how they did when the official damage estimates from this blackout are released.

If such a disaster struck the West Coast, some of the most confident businesspeople would have one thing in common--The Main Exchange. The Exchange was constructed to keep data safe and Internet connectivity alive, and contains greater infrastructure redundancy and better physical stabilization than its competitors.

With ten 2.1 installed Megawatt generators, full on-site utility integration, N+2 or greater redundancy on all systems, 60,000 gallons of fuel on site, and ironclad fuel delivery contracts, the Main Exchange is California's most secure data center. "This building is designed to survive earthquakes, power outages, and other disasters," said Jean Paul Balajadia, Vice President of the Exchange. "If the East Coast outage had happened in San Francisco, our technicians wouldn't have noticed so much as a light blinking on site. Our on site capabilities and multiple redundancies guarantee that our customers' data and Internet traffic can survive almost any challenge."