business telephony and data service provider Telstra Europe announced on Tuesday it successfully shut down operations at its Hosting Centre in the London Docklands on Easter weekend, April 15 to 16. The "Black Building" simulation enables Telstra to test the resilience of its business continuity capabilities at its facility.

The live simulation re-creates the effects of an unanticipated computer disaster or power supply failure and was carried out in a controlled environment. The center was also tested last year during Easter weekend 2005. This second successful test is part of an ongoing strategy of continuous improvement at Telstra Europe's Docklands hosting facilities.

"Whilst all our customers were given advance notice of the test, I am delighted to say that there was not one report of service disruption," says David Thorn, CEO of Telstra Europe. "Recent events such as the Buncefield depot explosion illustrated the importance for businesses to have robust business continuity procedures in place and by conducting these tests, Telstra can further develop its complete service provision for customers."

Easter weekend's "black building" involved the thorough testing of the Dockland building's generators by switching off the main power supply for several hours at a time and switching to onsite back-up diesel generators, which have a supply of 3,500 litres of fuel. The work was undertaken and overseen by Telstra Europe engineers, with manufacturers and contractors also on-site to provide support and analyze the test retrospectively.

Source: The WHIR - Web Host Industry Review