Advanced Data Recovery Technology Becoming a Legal Necessity

More Businesses are Using Online Backup Technology to Reduce Liability.

CINCINNATI, OHIO -- October 3, 2002 -- Internet and technology law that was once vague or even non-existent has become more defined and specific regarding contractual liability in the event of computer failure. As more businesses are using computers to perform daily operations and to store vital and confidential information there has also been an increase of plaintiffs who were awarded damages after suing a company for losing computer data.    The law expects that people who are in positions of responsibility will take all reasonable steps to protect against damages caused by a computer crash or some other foreseeable disaster" says Mark F. Smith, an attorney with the firm of SBTechnology Law in Cincinnati. Businesses have been sued because their data was not reasonably protected against irrecoverable loss. There are practical, affordable technologies which enable a small or even a home-based business to avoid lengthy computer downtime or data loss and resume operations quickly after a disaster. Even if a business is not required by contract to obtain contingency planning/disaster recovery services, failure to obtain practical and reliable data backup and recovery services might place the business in breach of contract for failure to perform certain services," says Smith. Many government agencies and major manufacturers like General Motors require vendors to have redundancy for computer systems and information assets or else they risk severe financial penalties or even losing the contract altogether. The obvious reasons for having a data backup are to avoid financial losses, negative publicity and loss of market share. However, we are finding that legal liability is becoming the compelling reason why many of our customers are using online backup. Limitation or exclusion of liability clauses like the 'no consequential damage provision may not be enough to protect a business in a lawsuit anymore," says Christopher Bomar, president of Cincinnati-based Boomarang, an online backup and recovery service integrator targeted at small to medium size businesses and the remote offices of large corporations. Boomarang (www.boomarangdbs.com) specializes in offsite backup and recovery, PC migration, and remote data access solutions for desktops, mobile PCs and servers. Online backup services have been proven to significantly reduce computer downtime, and lower the costs and burdens associated with managing stored information assets.    Says Bomar, Banks, insurance companies and most major corporations have been using the same backup software and data centers we provide to SMBs for about 10 years. Most of our clients, especially medical and financial, are very concerned about legal liability for failing to comply with statutory requirements like HIPAA. They tell us they need their information protected at all times where it can be easily and quickly recovered anytime, from anywhere. We enable them to reduce their liability exposure in the event of computer failure and redirect financial and human resources to more important work instead of backups." Boomarang provides free data recovery evaluations to business owners and IT managers by calling (513) 759-4544 or e-mail: info@boomarangdbs.com. Besides reasons of legal prudence or mandate, more government offices and major corporations require businesses and consultants to prove they have full data recovery plans and services in place before awarding the contract. If current trends continue as predicted by industry analysts, most insurance companies are eventually going to require their customers to have business recovery capabilities in order to get coverage. Several major carriers now provide business interruption insurance discounts for policyholders that subscribe to an online backup service because statistically those companies are much more likely to fully recover from a disaster, both physically and legally, than companies that do not.

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