Incorporating the downtime due to disaster events in the network reliability model

In today's business world, the importance of the network cannot be overstated for the success of a business. In this paper, we present a business continuity planning (BCP) model that is used to determine the expected downtime due to disaster impact as well as the normal hardware and software failures. We show how certain techniques, which may work effectively for normal failure conditions, may come up short in the case of disasters. We also address the remedies that can be applied to correct these shortfalls and ensure a high level of network availability even in adverse conditions when ironically, the network may be most needed. Finally, we show the imperative need for addressing the BCP readiness in assessing the expected network reliability in the real world where disaster events are sure to occur and often on a regular basis.