Disaster recovery puts HP 3000s in service at BlueLine

Since the company has ramped up its HP 3000 support facilities with parts and systems, BlueLine Services (877.464.2583) has put its 3000 servers to work in a new disaster recovery center. The facility that opened in November, which also has T-6 HP 9000 units on call, includes a Series 997 and an N-Class server. BlueLine wants to leverage its support business to open up disaster recovery (DR) operations.

“With HP basically abandoning us MPE-ers, we decided we wanted to augment our services with disaster recovery,” said BlueLine president Bill Towe.

Approached by its 3000 customers who were looking for disaster services, BlueLine decided that “the expertise we have in MPE seemed like a pretty easy fit, since we were already doing support.” A disaster recovery specialist in Dallas helped BlueLine establish intake questionnaires, add 24x7 secure keypad entry, and install T-1 lines inbound and outbound so the servers can link to Internet services. Fiber Channel Model 30 storage arrays are onsite, too.

“The services are very a la carte,” Towe said. “I think one of the big problems when customers are trying to get a DR program set up is that they have to bite off on a plan. MPE is such a unique environment that a la carte is just about the only way you can do things.” Services can be as simple as storage of backup tapes, backing up to the BlueLine systems via T-1, on up to testing of DR plans and printing and mailing of checks and forms. “Testing is so big in DR,” he said. “People don’t want to develop a DR plan without testing it.” He said that BlueLine’s DR is “relatively inexpensive according to what you would pay HP,” and BlueLine also contracts DR consulting with a Dallas-area firm. Costs are determined by completing a questionnaire.

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