INTERVIEW
Drew Martin
Feeling the heat
Wildfires provided lessons in disaster
planning and recovery for Sony CIO
When disaster strikes, the role
of a company’s top IT manager
becomes extraordinarily com-
plex. For Sony Electronics CIO
Drew Martin, the October wildfires that threatened the company’s San Diego-area
headquarters quickly escalated into a critical balancing
act. Martin found himself torn between trying to attend
to the welfare of the company’s massive information
infrastructure while con- thing. On the plus side,
sidering the personal and we didn’t have people in
professi onal needs of the office. But on the other
thousands of displaced hand, we started to realize
workers—including him- it was headed directly for
self and his family. our corporate headquar-
In the weeks following ters in Rancho Bernardo,
the fires, Martin found and we knew it would be
time to reflect on his expe- difficult to reach people
rience with eWeek con- over the weekend if we
tributor Steve Kovsky. had to advise them that
we were closing the office.
How did the early hours of the It was pretty chaotic.
fire unfold for you, and when One of the big surprises
did you first realize the magni- was just how quickly the the town of Ramona. ... Had you ever experienced a
tude of the threat it represented fire was moving. Then by midnight on Sun- situation like this before?
to your family, your co-workers Our neighborhood is day, we were getting ready In some ways, it was remi-
to evacuate ourselves. niscent of September 11,
In the end, we barely 2001. I was right in the
‘One of the big take-aways had time to grab some middleof9/11, too,because
for me was the importance photo albums, a change of I was living in New York at
of implementing a reverse- clothes, some hard drives the time. I grew up in New and some teddy bears. I York and moved to San
911 notification system.’ left with my wife, three Diego when Sony moved
kids and the dog. The gold- its headquarters here from
fish, unfortunately, got New Jersey in 2004.
and the company? located next to Poway High left at home. Luckily, our Unlike during 9/11, we
It all happened on a Sun- School, which on Sunday home only suffered minor never lost communications
day when the fires started. was already being used as damage from the ash and in San Diego, even though
That was a good and a bad an evacuation center for strong winds. [CON TINUED ON PAGE 75]
