RE: Facilities issue

There is a downside to Halon.  Don't be in the room when it goes off.  It
smothers the fire by reducing the oxygen in the air.  That means a person
could lose their breath before finding the exit from the room.  Halon
systems are no longer recommended, they are dangerous to human life.
If a water system is installed, then it needs to be on a separate system so
that it only goes off if the computer room is on fire.  It should not go off
if other areas of the building are on fire.  Otherwise, you have soaked
perfectly good equipment and created your own disaster.
Another alternative is to not have a Halon or water system, but have a
really effective Disaster Recovery/Business Contingency plan.  The first
action in a fire is to cut the power to the room and get everyone out
safely.  The DR plan then goes into effect and should get you through the
immediate disaster.  This would mean you have off site copies of your
system, applications and data either on magnetic media or via redundant
systems. The Contingency Plan will define how you are to do business from
that point on until reconstruction.
In order to design an effective plan, just think through how you would
rebuild your system and continue business without use of your current system
and/or the building.

Richard W Shealy


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