Patent ID: 7685465

Claim:
A method for recovering software applications after a catastrophic failure, said method comprising: executing a first plurality of software applications on a first computing unit at a first location; executing a second plurality of software applications on a second computing unit at a second location, wherein the second plurality of software applications are different than the first plurality of software application, said second location remotely located from said first location and said first and second computing units functioning effectively as a single computing unit; designating said second computing unit for recovery of said first plurality of software applications upon occurrence of said catastrophic failure and a determination that the first computing unit is unresponsive; dynamically allocating a workload associated with the first computing unit to the second computing unit and at least one other computing unit upon the occurrence of said catastrophic failure, where the at least one other computing unit includes a third plurality of software applications, wherein the second plurality of applications and the third plurality of applications provide a predetermined set of the first plurality of applications; and executing at least one of said first plurality of software applications on said second computing unit in response to a loss of said first computing unit resulting from said catastrophic failure.