Batelco Bahrain Provides Disaster Recovery for BBK

Batelco, Bahrain's leading integrated communications provider is working hand in hand with BBK, the Kingdom's pioneer in commercial banking, to ensure business continuity for the bank in the face of any unexpected event that could affect their daily operations and the provision of services to its customers.

"Business Continuity services help ensure that our customers are fully prepared for any unplanned event which could interrupt the delivery of their services and impinge on their profitability," explained Batelco Chief Executive Officer Bahrain Gert Rieder.

Batelco offers Business Continuity services at a secure site within one of Batelco's premises with high quality fully equipped office space from which businesses can continue to run their operations. The site is maintained within Batelco’s fully managed environment with fully redundant power systems supported by backup and uninterrupted power supply to ensure high availability. Strict measures are enforced to guarantee enhanced security backed up by a dedicated team at the facility round the clock.

"The infrastructure is based on a highly resilient network with multiple high speed connections to the internet managed and monitored by out Network Operations Centre. Recovery stations are pre-installed with customer specific applications and connectivity to ensure the shortest possible restoration times in the event of a disaster or system failure at the customer’s premises," explained Batelco GM Enterprise and Government Division Dr. Abdullah Al Thawadi.

The Business Continuity services complement Batelco’s Data Centre offering, which is a highly redundant and secure facility that serves as a repository for the storage, management and dissemination of data and information for organisations. Major companies, including BBK, which has been a customer for 5 years, currently host their critical data off-site at Batelco’s Data Centre to ensure business continuity in the face of any environmental or technical disaster. Other global communication and technology providers also choose the Batelco Data Centre as their primary point of presence.

The state-of-the-art Data Centre provides uninterrupted services round the clock, 365 days a year. Companies using the facility can depend on:-

Fail-safe reliability and continuous monitoring
Physical and network access security surveillance
Zoned environmental control
Fire suppression and early warning smoke detection systems
Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) – with modular UPS systems with in-built redundancy
Building Management System
To further guarantee the highest levels of security, access to the main office building and secure areas are controlled by multiple swipe card systems and 24 x 7 CCTV surveillance with monitors and alarms extended to the Security Operations Center.

"Companies in Bahrain are becoming increasingly aware of the critical necessity to plan ahead to strategically address all types of natural and man-made business disruptions. Demand for alternative locations to conduct business and recover computer systems during disasters is growing," the Batelco Bahrain CEO said.

"BBK is the first Bahrain organisation to avail of our new Business Continuity service and take over their designated office space. Batelco is now in the process of rolling out the services for other organisations."

"An added bonus of utilising Batelco’s services is the cost saving element, as setting up such a secure environment is a very costly exercise for any company to undertake."

"Batelco's customised services remove all the effort and stress associated with an unexpected technical or infrastructure disaster," concluded Mr. Rieder.

July 25,2009