causes of Samsung data center fire video

The blaze started in the South Korean electronics maker’s Gwacheon facility, which hosts data for Smart TV and a number of online services for smartphones and tablets.  

Many services, including some used by U.S. customers, went offline for several hours over the weekend. One employee sustained minor injuries from falling debris, Samsung said.

Social media photos

showed that much of the building was fully involved in flames, with firefighters using external ladders to tackle
the blaze and evacuate workers.
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What to Do:Deploy redundant systems to ensure business continuity in a disaster. Isolate backup systems in physically separate locations. Use mirroring to prevent data loss.

In a blog post [via Google Translate], Samsung apologized and said it’s working with authorities to determine the fire’s cause.

Sunday’s incident was the second time in recent weeks that fire has threatened Samsung’s operations. In March, a blaze at a supplier factory raised concerns about Samsung’s ability to deliver the Galaxy S5 in time for its April 11 launch date.

Samsung was able to launch the smartphone on time thanks to its use of multiple contractors. But the fact that the most recent fire knocked out some of the company’s most high-profile services suggests that its business continuity plans may not have been sufficiently robust.

Experts say companies that scrimp on recovery planning and backup systems could pay a heavy price if disaster eventually strikes.

“All of your BCM [Business Continuity Management] efforts mean some level of redundancy, and that leads to increased costs,” said Gartner research VP Roberta Witty, in a blog post.

Samsung data center fire knocks out Smart TV, other online services.Ready Tweet

“Backups, data replication, retainer contracts, spare inventory, cross-training—they all cost money to implement. But without them, all you have to look forward to is single points of failure all over the business. That’s not a good operational model, or a good career plan,” Witty wrote.

Disasters that knock out contractually obligated customer services can be particularly bad, she added. “Poor contract management quality can be fatal to the business. Not just damaging. Fatal.”

Samsung officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

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The Samsung SDS building is a subsidiary of Samsung Group and a provider of software services, outsourcing and consulting. The loss of service lasted for four and a half hours, before it was fully restored at about 7.30 p.m. local time (10:30 GMT / 6:15 a.m. ET), according to the company's statement.

"We have detected a brief service disruption caused by network outage which lasted from 06:00 to 10:30(GMT), April 20th, 2014. The service has been restored as of 10:30(GMT)," Samsung said in a statement,Engadget reported. "We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused."

The exact cause of the fire is still being investigated, but company officials assumed the flames started at a smoke pipe on the building's exterior area, Korea Times reported.

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