Organizations in Miami face threats from inclement weather year round. Lightning is one of the most destructive forces of nature and it adversely affects electronic equipment. If that’s not enough, we also have a hurricane season that never fails to put people and business managers on edge. You can mitigate systems outages caused by inclement weather by moving your servers to a data center or by moving your applications to the cloud, but you still need to protect your on-premise equipment.
When a hurricane is imminent, our staff can remotely shut down servers, routers and other electronic devices located in your IT room ahead of the storm. If you wish to go this route, unplug the main UPS from the wall outlet after we confirm that everything is off, then cover the equipment with a tarp to keep it dry in case of leaks cause by roof damage. Never cover equipment unless it is unplugged, otherwise it can overheat if it’s accidentally turned back on. If you do not feel sure about what to unplug, call us to have a technician perform these tasks on-site.
Ask employees to turn off their PCs, printers, monitors and battery back ups and unplug them all from the wall outlet. Cover them with a plastic garbage bag to prevent water damage, but only after making sure that they are unplugged. If they are on the ground, lift them at least 6″ to prevent water damage. Printers, usually located on top of desks, should be moved under the desk in order to prevent damage caused chunks of dry ceiling falling on top of them. Large printer/copiers should be unplugged and covered, and if applicable, moved away from windows.
After returning to work, inspect the premise carefully for signs of water and moisture. If you suspect that any water has entered an electronic equipment, call us for an on-site inspection before you plug the equipment back in. Never plug in or turn on any equipment that you suspect has water or moisture inside.