Until calamity strikes, business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) services aren't top of mind for most business owners. In fact, BC/DR services are like insurance policies -- distasteful or ignored until needed. Yet, improvements in BC/DR-related technologies have made it possible to deliver services that are affordable for businesses of all sizes and profitable for solution providers.

Continuous data access is the lifeblood of most companies today. "I begin nearly every discussion about disaster recovery and business continuity services by asking the prospect ‘How long can your business live without your data?' " explains Ted Warner, president at Connecting Point of Greeley, Colo. "While a lot of technology needs can spring from that question, BC/DR is usually the first."

The technology is also becoming more affordable. A few years ago, implementing good BC/DR meant setting up a roomful of duplicate servers and PCs -- a daunting expense for most small and midsize businesses. Today, however, costs are coming down for BC/DR technologies such as virtualization, application streaming, storage, and enhancements to the internet, according to Pete Lindstrom, research director at Spire Security. In addition, disasters from 9/11 to Katrina to floods and tornadoes in the Midwest have caught the attention of SMB executives.

They are also coming to understand the fragility of traditional backup schemes such as tape and onsite storage, unreliable because users don't back up according to policy, or because the tape "restore" function is faulty. "Imagine standing in front of your offices that are burning down and holding all of your backup tapes. What good are they?" asks Lester Keizer, CEO at Connecting Point Las Vegas. "It could take weeks to get back to work again."

Put it all together and you have an exploding market: A recent report from Frost & Sullivan estimates that North American enterprises in 2006 spent $15.1 billion on BC/DR services, a figure expected to reach $23.3 billion by 2012.

On the Services Side
To address customers' BC/DR needs, both Keizer and Warner offer a BC/DR service dubbed XiloCore. The service consists of a storage appliance that is located on the customer's site and regularly captures "snapshots" of the customer's network. The data is securely transmitted offsite to one of two data centers located in Las Vegas or Simi Valley, Calif. In all, the service provides local backup for basic emergencies and automatic off-site backup, as well as secure remote access to programs, servers and data.

If you'd prefer not to build your own BC/DR service, consider outsourcing managed services from Ingram Micro Seismic. The portfolio includes online backup and restore, e-mail and web security, hosted Microsoft Exchange, intrusion prevention and other building blocks of BC/DR solutions. All are available on a per-subscription basis, which keeps startup costs low. BC/DR services also include helping customers coordinate operating procedures following a disaster and developing contingency plans for managers to communicate and employees to access applications from home -- essentially everything a business needs to remain operational.

For solution providers, BC/DR services deliver recurring revenue and the opportunity for ongoing consulting as the customer grows. Couple this with strong demand and you have a compelling reason to add BC/DR services to your solution portfolio.