During the upcoming IT Infra event, a track is dedicated to continuity. The theme has been high on the agenda for years and everything indicates that the subject is becoming increasingly important. Why this is the case quickly becomes apparent when we look at the importance of IT for society as a whole.
Online is a commodity
Ask consumers and entrepreneurs what they consider important and there is a good chance that online availability will soon be discussed. Online has become a commodity, just like water from the tap and electricity from the socket. We expect it to always be there and meet the quality requirements. If one of the three is missing, work becomes more difficult, with the longer failure of two or more everything inevitably comes to a standstill.
Incidents can be dealt with through redundancy in connectivity and power supply, plus the use of emergency power supplies. The fact that this should be used occasionally is generally ignored by the market. After all, the service continues continuously and that is the only thing that seems to count.
Why
The question of why we want to have power and connectivity available to us on a 24/7 basis is rarely asked. Previously, comfort and convenience were the main reasons. Nowadays there are other issues at play. Without connectivity, data transport is not possible. Production processes, trade and transport cannot function without data. This also applies to the control of lighting installations, traffic lights and bridges. Literally everything nowadays depends on bits and bytes. Switching to analogue working methods is becoming increasingly difficult. The impact of power outages, the loss of connectivity, can be truly overwhelming.
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