Not every disaster is planned for, nor is every central station able to rehearse their plans in action regularly– but it's the peace of mind a DR plan can give with a step-by-step procedure in place from the start," Clifford V. Dice, president and CEO of Dice says. For Dyck, it was as simple as utilising the customer location alternate touting (CLAR) that Dyck Security Services has in place with AT&T and the Type I Recovery plan with Dice. Dyck successfully rerouted calls for the receiver lines to direct to Dice phone numbers, and the central station lines were transferred to cell phones located in the Dyck Security central station, giving the operators the ability to stay put and man the alarms while waiting for their facility to be back up.

The true success of this story is the underlying details to the partnership between Dice and Dyck. Dice Corporation, the automation partner for Dyck Security Services, communicated with Dyck through the DR plan process that was implemented for them in 2007 and revised again by Dyck back in June 2010. "Dice doesn't just provide automation software and a DR plan, but an entire infrastructure to those that want to utilise it," adds Cliff Dice, "having a complete solution allows clients to feel secure to lean on Dice for all extensions of their business operation from software, Telco, and signal networks of all types. "

Catherine Oliver with Dyck Security was honest about her apprehensions with the last revised date of the plan being a year old already, combined with the fact they have never actually tested before they declared disaster. However, due to the communication and the quick thinking and knowledgeable experience on both ends, the plan was implemented successfully under the direction of Dice DR centre team.

Steve Senk, the Dice Disaster Recovery manager, a 12 year veteran of Dice Corporation, emphasises the fact that those carrying a DR plan with Dice Corporation should update their information regularly (quarterly, or bi-annually is recommended). However, sometimes central stations don't have time to test – especially when it is time to act!

All in all, October 11th at 0900 the end result was without any issues on the change back from DR and AT&T CLAR to the Dyck Security's central station. Going forward, the Dice DR Team encourages all clients implementing a DR plan to setup regular testing at the discretion of the client, but this should be viewed as necessary to the DR plan. It is difficult for Dice to force clients into testing mode, however the testing process is imperative to make any corrections on the Dice side. This way, there is a better quality of service in motion to ensure all types of signals that are labeled according to the operation flow are checked ahead of time before the implementation of a DR plan can hit the ground running.

"Testing of our DR plan will certainly be something we will incorporate in our Business Continuity Plan…", adds Marty VanConant, "…although this was the first time we were in need of the DR services, we were pleased with turnaround time of the [Dice] DR Team and look forward to a smooth transition if we need the services [again] in the future."