The Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu's Information Technology Park at Ilanthaikulam here will soon have a unique facility — a Disaster Recovery Centre (DRC) for the State. It will be a mirror image of the State Data Centre (SDC) located in Chennai.
The Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, has accorded formal approval for the DRC, whose function is to ensure data security.
According to Santhosh Babu, Secretary, Information Technology, tenders for setting up the DRC at the IT Park would be floated soon. The DRC is expected to become operational in 2012. Dr. Santhosh Babu said here on Thursday that the DRC would be a unique facility and a model for other States to emulate.
At present the State Government hosts its software applications/services in a secured environment in the SDC.
A DRC has become essential, as part of a comprehensive Business Continuity Planning (BCP), to ensure data security. The need for a DRC was being increasingly felt after the 9/11 terrorist attack, Dr. Santhosh Babu said and added that the centre would be set up at an estimated cost of Rs. 60 crore. The Information Technology Minister, R. B. Udhayakumar, was showing a keen interest in setting up the facility in Madurai, he said.
The DRC will be a mirror image of the SDC and will ensure zero data loss in real time application service delivery.
‘Disaster recovery' refers to the process, policies and procedures related to preparing for recovery or continuation of technology infrastructure critical to an organisation after a natural or human-induced disaster. It focuses on information technology systems that support the functioning of an organisation. The Ilanthaikulam IT Park has an area of 28.91 acres on which the ELCOT has also created common infrastructure facilities for IT companies.