Up in Smoke: Rebuilding After an IT Disaster

Abstract

On July 3, 2002, fire destroyed a facility that served as both office and computer server room for a College of Business located in the United States. The fire also caused significant smoke damage to the office building where the computer facility was located. The monetary costs of the disaster were over $4 million. This case, written from the point of view of the chairperson of the College Technology Committee, discusses the issues faced by the college as they resumed operations and planned for rebuilding their information technology operations. The almost-total destruction of the college’s server assets offered a unique opportunity to rethink the IT architecture for the college. The reader is challenged to learn from the experiences discussed in the case to develop an IT architecture for the college that will meet operational requirements and take into account the potential threats to the system.