When time-critical applications are run on an IT system, the secondary damage resulting from
a system failure will be correspondingly high if there are no alternative systems available.
Examples:
• Firmware is loaded onto an IT system, but the firmware is not intended for use with
this type of system. The IT system will no longer start without errors and has to be
returned to an operable state by the manufacturer.
• A power failure in the storage system of an Internet Service Provider (ISP) resulted in
the shutdown of the storage system. Although it was possible to fix the actual error
quickly, the IT systems affected would not boot up correctly as there were
inconsistencies in the file system. As a consequence, several web servers operated by
the ISP remained unreachable for days.