Fergie's Tech Blog

Katrina: Businesses Prepare for Disaster

Via Red Herring.

Hurricane Katrina’s devastation across the Gulf Coast of the United States has prompted many businesses to look again at their disaster planning strategies, including Iron Mountain, which operates four facilities in the storm-struck area.

Iron Mountain, a company that provides offsite data storage and protection services for other large companies, said Friday all of its New Orleans facilities managed to survive the hurricane, but the flood damage was “impossible to assess.” All of the company’s employees had evacuated the area and were not yet permitted to return to see how well the buildings survived the flooding.

Iron Mountain told its customers that it could not access its records at the New Orleans facilities, but that it would provide them with updates. The company’s Baton Rouge facilities remained open and a spokesperson said company officials will review its plans in a conference call.

In an effort to help its employees, the Boston-based company’s web site provided a toll-free help line and asked employees outside New Orleans to supply information on the welfare of co-workers affected by the hurricane. Iron Mountain said it would offer updates on its intranet on the current status of its facilities and employees.

posted by Fergie @ 9/03/2005 10:42:00 AM