Manama, Gulf Air have announced the commissioning of a disaster recovery center located 15 kilometers from the airline’s main headquarters in Muharraq city, where the company-wide data center is currently housed.

According to Gulf Air, the center has been designed and implemented with the aim to ensure the continuity of the airline’s daily functions and provide a convenient temporary workspace for Gulf Air staff should the company-wide data center become unavailable in emergency circumstances. The facility is physically secured 24 hours and 7 days a week with security guards and monitored by a close circuit TV (CCTV) system.

Samer Majali Gulf Air chief executive officer said, “It is no doubt that businesses today are increasingly dependent on IT systems to help manage and run their business operations effectively and efficiently.  Gulf Air is no different as the smooth running of a majority of its critical business functions are now directly linked to the continuous availability of IT systems and business data.

 “As such it is important that we ensure business continuity and a robust IT backup system is available in the event of any emergency situation arising out of natural and man-made disasters such as floods, fires, regional power outages and terrorist attacks.

“The opening of the new Disaster Recovery Centre is part of our on-going initiative to secure and safeguard Gulf Air’s business assets and ensure continuity of its operations so that we serve our customers with consistent and high-level, uninterrupted services.”

Dr. Jassim Haji, Gulf Air’s director of information technology commented, “The Disaster Recovery Centre has been set up using state-of-the-art technologies that enable real-time connectivity and data transfer from Gulf Air Headquarters. This means the Centre has the capability of being activated at any time with no loss or disruption to Gulf Air business services. Even when not being used, the Centre is operated remotely by experienced Gulf Air IT Engineers around the clock, managing all systems and data. 

“The next phase of the project will be to implement the broader concept of business continuity planning by establishing how each Gulf Air business unit can best utilise the new Disaster Recovery Centre and also identifying non-IT related needs.”