The van was visiting Dunedin yesterday as part of Plan-b's roadshow to demonstrate that, should a crisis strike, the company could get a business back up and running with little interruption and minimal loss.
The privately owned company had been operating in the North Island for 12 years, with offices in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington, business development manager Andrew Shead said.
Plan-b had recently opened a 70-seat facility in Christchurch and had invested in two mobile vans to service the South Island.
Each van has nine workspace seats and a kitchen.
There are computers, communications equipment, a telephone exchange and multifunction print, fax and scanner facilities.
The vans were designed to mitigate the risk of disaster to businesses, he said.
Plan-b backed up data and did online tape management, carried out server replication and recovery, replicated services off site, recovered and tested services, and provided advisory services.
"To have continuity in a crisis, you need a plan to put in action.
Half of that is about technology and half about people," Mr Shead said.
Plan-b employed 60 people who, among other duties, tested and recovered 2000 servers annually.
When disaster struck, the mobile van could park alongside the damaged business and plug into the communication lines and keep the business operating for as long as it took, he said.
While the van would not stay indefinitely, it had recently been parked beside a crisis-hit business for five weeks while the business recovered.
Plan-b had spent about $19 million on top quality IBM and Em2 equipment which it leased to its clients.
Prices for using the mobile van varied depending on the size of the client and the type of services needed.
The same applied to the permanent office facilities in Christchurch and the North Island.
Server replicating could be around $399 a month.
