What happens when power goes out at BSSP?

Liberty Ship Way loses power occasionally, normally during storms with high winds.

If a power outage occurs out of hours there are monitoring and notification systems in place; the IT team are automatically texted when power is out. We then notify the Admin team and the senior BSSP management team who in turn enact the phone tree with details about the issue. This list is updated by the Admin team and updated / distributed each quarter. 

We have battery backup devices that keep our servers and Internet connection online for about an hour. Our main priority is to shutdown all servers gracefully before the battery backup devices run out (There are automatic shutdown procedures for servers, but we try to get them shut down quickly to preserve battery power).

During this time we also prepare our portable generators. The generators provide power to our critical communication servers (email, Internet, phone system) and primary file servers. We then determine the amount of power available for other services and power up what we can.

We are unable to power any desktop machines, lights and printers. If we know the power will take a while to come back on, and your main machine is a desktop, we recommend you work from home and access information in the office being powered by generators remotely.

Our wireless access points in building 28 have about 30 minutes of battery backup time, our devices in building 20 have an extended runtime. If you have a laptop you should be able to work from building 20 for as long as your laptop battery will last.

Communication during a power outage

While the IT team are working on the servers and generators, the Admin Team prepares SMS texts to your cell phones notifying you that the power is out and expected ETA. The Admin Team also has an emergency phone tree should there be an issue with SMS texting.

http://www.bssp.com/emergency website is located outside the office and updated by IT after we get the primary servers on generators. Typically this is only updated after the first hour of downtime since we are busy working on other things – but this this handy and check from home if possible during an extended power outage.

Your wallet / purse phone list also has an emergency cell phone number listed, 415 497 9014. If you need to talk with someone from the admin team you can use that number.

Typically power comes back fairly quickly, but if you are working when it’s stormy take precautions. Certainly if you are using a desktop machine – save your work frequently.