While today’s software-defined radio stations are extremely powerful and agile, they’re also vulnerable to a wide range of hazards that can knock them off the air without warning. Even if the problem only lasts a few hours, that downtime can result in lost advertising or underwriting revenue and a need for makegoods.
Stations could also lose money due to security threats, such as malicious ransomware that suddenly blocks access to the station’s mission-critical computing and media assets until the cyber attackers’ ransom demands have been met. Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, fires, and floods, can also drive a station off the air due to power outages, or a need to evacuate the facility. Or the problem could be as commonplace as a technical failure, like a crashed computer or server.
Since disasters can strike without warning, it’s vital to have a strategy for dealing with them. The best way to keep your on-air operation stay safe and sound is to implement the DAD-DR cloud-based Disaster Recovery solution from ENCO. Designed as a complement to ENCO’s DAD live radio automation system, DAD-DR enables instant failover to a cloud-based site so your station can stay on-the-air without interruption.
This is because DAD-DR is continuously replicating and synchronizing all your DAD data in the cloud as a background process, including your station’s current libraries, playlists, op logs, and more. Should something ever go wrong—like the on-air staff must evacuate or the studio-to-transmitter link goes down—simply shift your on-premises-based operation to DAD-DR in the cloud.
DAD-DR immediately takes over and begins feeding the program signals from the cloud to your transmitter tower, or Content Delivery Network (CDN) for online streaming. When the studio facility is back online, simply reverse the data flow from the DAD DR cloud site to the studio to restore whatever libraries, playlists, logs, and other assets DAD-DR was using to keep your station on the air.
While you may have a variety of back-up systems already in place, such as UPS backup power, redundant signal paths, and user access controls, DAD-DR safeguards your on-air workflow by replicating synchronized DAD data files off-site in the cloud.
DAD performs a broad range of tasks, such as station automation, playout, and database management. When it’s configured to run in the cloud, rather than on-premises, users can access both DAD and DAD-DR remotely from any browser. Discover how ENCO can keep your station on-the-air without fail, and your valuable media libraries and databases safe and sound from the cloud.
