London Sightseeing: See the best sights of London with a London Pass!

From the Shakespeare to the shopping, the royalty to the restaurants, London blends old world magic with cutting edge modernism like no other city in the world.

Steeped in history and boasting a melting pot of cultures, you can visit the scene of a beheading, indulge in a curry to die for and shop your way through a world renowned fashion scene, all on one quiet London back street! With so much to see and do.

Introduction

Data management and disaster recovery are two very important issues in the field of Information Technology. Without either of these, a company will not make it very far in an age when large organizations store data on every transaction and have redundant facilities built in case of natural or man-made disaster. Indeed, such recovery of data would be nearly useless if there was no data management scheme in place.

Data Management

Mearin, in his Computer World article entitled, "ILM: Putting the Pieces Together", talks about Information Life-cycle Management. Information has different uses, and those uses can change over time. At the beginning of their life-cycle, there may be the need for immediate retrieval of data. As time goes by, the use of that data may be minute, and it is moved to long-term storage where access times are not important (2004).

Mearin gives the example of Visa, who needed to keep track of 300 million transactions a day (2004). There is the need, in this situation, to have very rapid response times when querying data. With this many transactions, and the need for reliable and speedy hardware, custom-built, top of the line systems are necessary. An array of tape backup drives would not be sufficient here, at the beginning of the data's life-cycle. However, through the years, the need to look at a group of data will dwindle, and it can be moved to long-term storage, where slower tape drives may be the most economical solution.

What I learned from this article is that the tool must not only fit the immediate job, but also fit in the future. This may involve the use of multiple systems, each with its own purpose. The costs of purchasing these systems may be a great sum of money now, but having the right tools for the job throughout the lifetime of data is very important.

Disaster Recovery

Disasters can happen at any time, in any place, with or without warning. The recent Tsunami that struck Asia is a recent example of nature's fury. It came without warning and many, many people died. Another example is the 2004 hurricane season that rocked Florida and the Gulf states.

Is there a difference in these two situations when thinking in terms of preserving data? I think not, as long as adequate precautions are made. In the article, "Beating Back 'Ivan the Terrible'", Michael Sisk talks about the 2004 hurricanes and what an area bank did to protect its data (2005). United Bank, based in Atmore, Alabama, had a plan for disaster and, despite damage to some of its operations, their data was safe.

This bank had contracted with a consulting company to manage a disaster contingency plan and allocate resources for operations. Offsite technology resources were arranged for and, as hurricane Ivan approached, preparations were made to use the temporary facilities for data operations (Sisk, 2005). By chance, the data operations center was not hit by the hurricane, and it was not necessary to use the rented backup site. Even though the backup location was not used, think of what would have happened to this bank's data if there was no contingency plan for disaster and disaster struck.

One must always plan for disaster. It is not so hard to look into very recent history and see instances of extraordinary loss of life and property. Whether this loss is caused by war, nature, or a criminal attack, disaster is real. The loss to a business can be so drastic that it can no longer operate. IT managers must take disaster into account and plan accordingly.

Conclusion

Data is the lifeblood of today's business. Without it, there will be no sales projections, no statistical marketing analysis, and no accounting books. Data must be managed both matching the scope of the business and the life-cycle of the data itself. Likewise, disaster must be accepted as a fact of life on this planet, and precautions must be taken. It is not the question of "if" that matters, but the question of "when". That is the time that data management and disaster contingency plans will matter most.

The best way to get the most from London is with the London Sightseeing Pass. A veritable passport for London, the London Pass is a ticket which gets you into not one, not two but more than 55 of London’s top sights and tourist attractions. It saves you loads of money, plus at many attractions it allows you to skip long and frustrating queues – so it saves you time as well.

You can buy the pass on its own or, if you plan to cover a lot of ground, you can opt for public transport to be included. The London Pass comes with its own guidebook which details all the attractions you can visit, plus gives you loads of extra discounts and freebies at restaurants, shops and entertainment centres all around London.

Depending on how much time you have in London, you can choose a 1, 2, 3 or 6 day London Pass, and then make your way at your leisure around the cities best sights. Some of the most popular tourist attractions covered by the London Pass include the Tower of London, St PaulÂ’s Cathedral, Kensington Palace, Windsor Castle and London Zoo, to name but a few.

Reference:

Mearin, L. (Dec. 2004). "ILM: Putting the Pieces Together". Computer World. Vol. 38, Issue 50, p. 21, 2 pgs.

Sisk, M. (Jan. 2005). "Beating Back 'Ivan the Terrible'". US Banker. Vol. 115, Issue 1, p. 26, 2 pgs. itÂ’s no wonder that London continues to be one of the most visited cities in the world. But with so much to see and do, how do visitors to this buzzing metropolis ensure they see the best that London has to offer?

Caleb Rogers writes about business, technology, life, and careers. He is the principle writer and administrator for Education Finder, an internet resource for colleges, online schools, and career education.