Disaster Preparation: Wireless Planning is Key to Keep Businesses Running

Whether businesses are small or large and regardless of industry or geographic location, they all have one thing in common: They can be vulnerable to disaster, both manmade and natural.
 

Many companies are running hardwired machine-to-machine (M2M) applications – from digital signage, ATMs and vending machines to video surveillance and monitoring – that drive their businesses, and, in turn, can be affected in disaster situations such as outages.
 

While most businesses have contingency plans in place to keep their networks running in the event of a disaster, advancements in wireless technology, such as the expansiveness and speed of 4G LTE networks, mean that it’s important to revisit those plans to determine if an update is in order. 
 

Here are top items for consideration:

• Is the speed/performance of the backup system sufficient to keep all applications running? Keep in mind that traditional landlines and satellite connections won’t have the bandwidth, so there may be latency issues.

• Is the connection via an alternate route (e.g. not buried in the same trench or using the same wired lines as the primary connection)?

• Do you have multiple locations with network connectivity connections? How do you manage these multiple connections?
 

One way to ensure businesses remain operational during emergency situations is to deploy a wireless failover such as Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE Private IP Network, which provides a secure wireless extension to Enterprise and Government Wide Area Network infrastructures. This helps the organization separate its data and Web traffic from the public Internet to reduce security risks and block unsolicited traffic, while also providing the speed and low latency needed for critical business applications. In addition, only customer-authorized subscribers may send and receive data, and the company has complete control over device access to the Internet and to applications.
 

So how does a 4G LTE network router work? Simple. The device automatically routes Internet traffic over the 4G LTE network when the primary connection goes down, which provides a cost efficient way to keep critical services running.
 

Before disaster strikes, revisit contingency plans and decide if a wireless 4G LTE backup is a solid business strategy to deploy.