Continuous availability is an approach to computer system and application design that protects users against downtime, whatever the cause and ensures that users remain connected to their documents, data files and business applications. Continuous availability describes the information technology methods to ensure business continuity.[1] [citation needed]
In early days of computing, availability was not considered business critical. With the increasing use of mobile computing, global access to online business transactions and business-to-business communication, continuous availability is increasingly important based on the need to support customer access to information systems.[2]
Solutions to continuous availability exists in different forms and implementations depending on the software and hardware manufacturer. The goal of the discipline is to reduce the user or business application downtime, which can have a severe impact on business operations. Inevitably, such downtime can lead to loss of productivity, loss of revenue, customer dissatisfaction and ultimately can damage a company's reputation.