A few months back, tornados ripped through Joplin and Tuscaloosa, causing massive devastation. If you were fortunate, you only had to suffer through minor interruptions of utility services, with other paying a far steeper price.

    This got me thinking about how important disaster recovery planning is to any business. No one expects terrible things to happen, but when they do, having that plan in place can really save your bacon. And one of the MOST important aspects of this is the recovery part: how you will get that data back onto a working platform that allows you to continue serving your customers and operating your business. The shocker for most business owners is that simply having a copy of the data does NOT guarantee a fast recovery. Let me give you an analogy to help you understand...

    Let's suppose we have a disaster recovery plan for your home. Your house would represent the server and platform, and all your furniture and personal items would be the data. Now let's suppose we could make a backup of your home by making an exact copy of everything that's in your house (all your furniture, appliances, clothing, etc.) and storing it in a "backup" shed. Then the unthinkable happens: your house gets leveled by a tornado, flood or fire and everything is gone (or a critical part of it is damaged and needs to be replaced). You would think, "Well, at least I have a copy!" True, but the first thing you would need to do is replace the home itself (remember, that's the platform that everything resides on). Next you would have to "reinstall" the services like gas, electricity and water (let's call that software). Then you would have to haul everything from the shed back to the house and "reformat" it by arranging it into the house. Depending on the extent of the damage done to your house, that could take days or weeks; chances are, you'd have to find a hotel to live out of in the meantime. In addition, there's the time and cost of moving everything back in and re-arranging and restoring everything to its proper place.

    Plus, the above assumes you have a recent, working copy of your entire home and everything in it. If you failed to make a copy - or if the shed where you were storing everything had a water leak that destroyed inside due to mold - then you're really out of luck.

    Of course, this is a simple analogy, and there are ways to back up your data and network so that recovery can happen inexpensively in a matter of hours, versus days or weeks. But if you simply think having a tape backup is going to be your saving grace, you might be unpleasantly surprised. I can't tell you the number of businesses who end up losing incredibly valuable, irreplaceable data because they don't think through the RECOVERY part of the backup equation.

    So what do you need to think about? First, the way you backup your data should be based on how important your data is and how fast you would need to be back up and running in the event of a disaster. If losing your data would only be a mild inconvenience and you could stand to be down for a couple of days, then tape backups may be okay. If that's not an option for you and there are certain critical functions that need to happen to keep you from getting into hot water with your customers and to prevent you losing a LOT of cash, then you want something more reliable than tape drives.

    The BEST thing to do is contact our office - 518-320-8906 - to schedule a strategy meeting to go over your needs and expectations for what should happen in the event of down-time or an outright disaster. That way, you know for sure what to expect and, more importantly, how to accurately prepare for a disaster.

    Steve Jobs is "selling" Apple again - only this time he's pitching the Cupertino City Council on allowing him to develop a 150-acre plot of land to build "the best office building in the world." This building will be home to a new Apple Campus and, without a doubt, it's a very ambitious plan.

     This giant building would hold 12,000 people. But that's not what makes this project so interesting; it's the circular design that gives it a spaceship appearance. In fact, there won't be a single straight piece of glass on the outside.

     During his presentation, it was reported that Steve Jobs wasn't in his normal "pitch mode" we're used to seeing on stage at Apple keynotes and events. During this presentation, he was reported as being much more low-key because he knows the city council can say no to his project if they want to. He's still salesy but doesn't use words like "magical" or "insanely great".

     And yet you can still see a tough streak in his proposal. When a council member asked if Apple plans to give the city free Wi-Fi, he replied, "We're the largest taxpayers in Cupertino, so we'd like to continue to stay here and pay taxes." Obviously that can be both a benefit and threat that Apple would pack up its bags and leave if not granted this request. Other highlights about the campus:

• The building would use its own natural gas generator as its primary source of power and the city's power grid only as a backup.
• The building includes an auditorium for conferences, giving them the ability to hold their events there instead of San Francisco.
• Apple wants to break ground next year and move in by 2015.

    If you travel a lot and you're tired of anemic laptop batteries that make you hunt down a power outlet in the airport, you'll want to know about these new portables that can sustain you from LAX to New York. The netbooks and notebooks, arranged in order from longest to shortest battery life, will keep you going for anywhere from six and a half hours to nearly nine hours. With battery power like that, you'll be able to keep your attention on your work and be very productive on the road.

Lenovo ThinkPad X200

This lightweight laptop offers maximum battery life of eight hours and 54 minutes when tested with a nine-cell battery option. The battery adds less than a pound to the computer, bringing the total weight to only 3.7 pounds for easy carrying. The nine-cell battery upgrade costs only $50 more. The price for this laptop is currently around $951.

Samsung N110

The Samsung N110 did a stellar job in PC World's battery tests, lasting eight hours, 23 minutes on a charge. At 2.7 pounds, this netbook is easy to carry as well. Prices for this model have dropped, putting it around $410.

Lenovo ThinkPad T400

ThinkPads are catnip to business travelers, thanks to their sturdy construction, solid performance, roomy keyboards, and - in the case of the Lenovo ThinkPad T400 - excellent battery life. The nine-cell battery added a bit of bulk but kept us working just shy of eight hours. The T400 is available online for $1289 and up.

Acer TravelMate 6293

The Acer TravelMate may look a bit drab, but when it comes to long battery life, this one is a winner. In tests, it lasted seven hours, 57 minutes; and for $999 the price is right too.

Samsung N120

This netbook not only has a great battery life but it also offers a very comfortable keyboard. In PC World tests, the N120 went for seven hours, 43 minutes on a charge, which is excellent but not quite as good as its netbook sibling, the Samsung N110. The N120 is priced around $410 online.