I learn a new phrase "Black Swan Effect" for IT

[Chibibar]

I was reading this article
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14677143

I had to look it up on what it means
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory

I can totally agree with this BUT the problem with IT is hard to budget and see all the possible angle.

Take my system for example. We are online campus. We server literally over 50,000 students a semester (that is online alone not including hybrid courses).

Now what do we do? We have TWO backup system (instant = 30 minute restore backup) and tape. and have TWO system. Live and backup system offsite. This cost a lot of money and we hardly use the offsite system at all (in the past two years) it cost a lot of money BUT if the main system ever goes down (lost of power, building disaster) the backup system (which is not of the same level as live cause we can't afford it) suppose to get us hopping along until we can get the live system back online.

Now imagine other companies who do have the money. What is more important? spending money in case of emergency or risking losing customer on an outage?

 

[Dave]

To me, the Black Swan effect will never mean anything more than two hot lesbians who dance.

 

[Chibibar]

To me, the Black Swan effect will never mean anything more than two hot lesbians who dance.

Shh.. that was my initial thought until I had to look it up for the article relation.

 

[GasBandit]

I remember what it was like to work in an IT department that had a budget! That was nice. Now excuse me, I have to go duct tape this critical computer back together. Grumble grumble.

 

[Chibibar]

I remember what it was like to work in an IT department that had a budget! That was nice. Now excuse me, I have to go duct tape this critical computer back together. Grumble grumble.

I know how you feel. Thanks to the government, we have a MAJOR budget cut on education across the board (note we also got a letter stating that they want MORE quality classes too) so we are salvaging what we can with our older stuff.

The bad side is that we can't really use out of warranty servers for production cause if it goes out, we don't have that 4 hour part delivery to bring it back (grant if a single item goes out it won't hurt it but still, you get the idea)

 

[GasBandit]

I know how you feel. Thanks to the government, we have a MAJOR budget cut on education across the board (note we also got a letter stating that they want MORE quality classes too) so we are salvaging what we can with our older stuff.

The bad side is that we can't really use out of warranty servers for production cause if it goes out, we don't have that 4 hour part delivery to bring it back (grant if a single item goes out it won't hurt it but still, you get the idea)

I wasn't using hyperbole. I mean, my company literally does not have an IT budget (despite my urgings). Every single purchase I need has to be individually written up and approved by the GM, be it 19 dollar sound card or $800 sound card (and yes, in radio, we do use 800 dollar sound cards)... or just.. you know.. computers.

 

[PatrThom]

I don't work in radio, so I only use a $550 sound card.

--Patrick