Abstract
In the next decades, regions around the world will face increasing changes from two types of threats: acute threats and chronic threats. Acute threats are natural and man-made catastrophes such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Chronic threats are the causes of shortages of basic resources such as water, food, and energy. A resilient planet is one that can deal with such changes.
Public and private sectors depend on information technology (IT) in critical situations that affect geographic regions and resources:
- They need more robust and resilient IT to support rapid recovery during and after a natural or man-made disaster.
- They can use analytics and modeling to prepare for and adapt to acute and chronic threats.
- They must be able to decentralize industrial methods for the provision of services and management of resources for higher resilience and reduction of waste.
- Citizens and other stakeholders can have a direct view of a situation across their region and can have a direct voice in the development of recovery plans.
The lessons that IBM® has learned from exploring the IBM Smarter Planet® have taught us the power of real-world information combined with tools for analysis, modeling, and visualization. In a disaster situation, they can provide responders with a single view of the truth across the region, with the ability to optimally allocate available resources, and with the ability to track missing persons and to reunite families. In a region of resource stress, they can equally provide a single view of the truth in space and in time, learning from the past and predicting the future.
This IBM Redbooks® Point-of-View publication describes how vital IT resiliency is to recovering quickly from natural and man-made disasters. It highlights the skills, methods, and expertise IBM has to help establish a resilient IT environment.
Table of Contents
A world of increasing threats
Information as a tool of resilience
Resilient IT services and recovery
Learning and foresight
A single view of the truth
Stakeholder engagement
What's next: How IBM can help