If Your Internet Service Goes Down, Does Your Business Stay Up?

When the unpredictable happens, will your business be prepared? That hypothetical question became reality when Internet services provider AT&T recently experienced a widespread outage throughout the United States.

With thousands of individuals and businesses impacted for up to 12 hours before the outage was resolved, the impact was felt across all regions of the US.

The stakes of the outage were especially high for businesses that rely on AT&T as their primary Internet provider. Without reliable Internet connectivity, most businesses have a difficult time staying up and running without incurring financial loss and customer dissatisfaction.

That’s why it’s increasingly important to have a business continuity plan that can withstand the loss of primary Internet service. In the case of national fast-casual restaurant seafood chain Captain D’s, having an embedded failover solution paid big dividends during the recent outage.

With multiple locations initially impacted by the outage throughout the Midwest, Southeast, and Southwest, Captain D’s was able to keep its restaurants up and running thanks to a fully managed network security solution coupled with 5G as a Service from PDI.

Automatic wireless failover maximizes uptime

When the main Internet connection failed at some Captain D’s locations, the PDI system automatically switched to an alternate network. This high-availability technology is a feature of PDI’s Managed Network Service products, including Firewall as a Service and 5G as a Service.

A robust multi-carrier failover strategy allowed the affected sites to maintain operations despite disruptions in one carrier network.

Similar automatic failover occurred in other enterprises that were using PDI solutions, which not only enhance cybersecurity and simplify PCI compliance but also safeguard against operational downtime and potential loss of revenue.

In the event the primary Internet connection fails, the system seamlessly transitions to an alternate carrier, enabling businesses to continue serving customers, processing transactions, and avoiding income loss due to downtime.

The Captain D’s sites were able to quickly resume operations after discovering the outage, benefiting from the disruption-free business continuity. The network devices, fully managed by PDI, are overseen by security experts who help ensure maximum operational uptime.

Internet outages, while not frequent, are predictable incidents that businesses should be prepared for. With a solid high-availability backup plan and a dedicated security partner, businesses can mitigate such outages before they cause a significant impact.

Discover more about PDI network management and security solutions, or contact us to learn how we can assist in securing and advancing your business.