Welcome to Disaster Recovery Planning 4th Edition.  We have elected to develop this edition first as a "blook" - a blog-plus-book - for two reasons.  For one, we wanted to publish chapters in a format that would enable readers to contribute their views and experiences, increasing the value of the project for everyone.  Publishing on the web also enables the integration of "rich media" such as audio, video and animated graphics that can help illustrate key ideas in a way that is different - and in some cases more effective - than static images. 

The other reason is to get the information out as quickly as possible and to reach the broadest possible readership rapidly.  Traditional publishing is a six month to one year long process - not including translations.  We may not be able to wait that long.

Frankly, with the increased dependency of business on technology infrastructure - a by-product of the current "do more with less money and fewer people" economy - we are seeing formal DR planning groups disbanded within organizations and their mission spread over a cadre of IT and business folk who often lack an appreciation of the planning process.  This is a dangerous trend that must be addressed rapidly to prevent minor interruptions from translating into major catastrophes. 

We hope you will find this project useful.  And we appreciate the generous sponsorship of CA Inc., which helped to make this effort possible.