Sources with the city's information office said it has worked out an outline to construct a data center for network disaster recovery, within the next two years.

"The project aims to cope with intensifying network intrusions such as attacks from Internet viruses, hackers and also some natural disasters," said an official with the office, who chose to remain anonymous.

The data center will use storage-networking solutions to connect regional offices and remote sites for disaster-recovery purposes, said the official.

"All networking data from governmental and financial institutions will be stored in the 'virtual brain,' and it will not be operational until disasters occur," said the official.

At present, nearly 50 governmental and financial institutions in the city, including banks, have established networking operational systems.

Data may be lost altogether if institutions' overall networking systems are destroyed, the official stressed.

As a result, the establishment of a data center is crucial to these institutions, which are aggregating storage, according to the official.

"The types of disaster may vary, but the goal is always the same. So the disaster recovery center may help institutions' networking data recover as quickly and completely as possible," the official said.

The site of the "virtual brain," with an estimated investment of more than 100 million yuan (US$12.3 million), will be outside the city's urban area, the official said.

"It is because the city's urban areas may also face some natural disasters, such as earthquakes," said the official.

(China Daily August 29, 2005)