Redundancy Planning CHAPTER 12 173 other vital systems are left without power and unable to phone for assistance to bring them back online when power is restored. To continue doing normal business functions, administrators need to implement equipment that will pro- vide these services when the utility companies cannot. When power is out for lengthy periods of time, additional measures may be nec- essary to supply electricity to equipment. Power generators can run on gasoline, kerosene, or other fuels for an extended time, and provide energy to a building. Certain power outlets may be connected to the generator, so that any systems plugged into these outlets will receive power when normal power is lost. DID YOU KNOW? In August 2003, a major power outage affected parts of the United States and Ontario, Canada. An estimated 45 million Americans and 10 million Canadians were left without power for a day. Because of preparation for Y2K a few years before and other factors, a number of homes and businesses had various kinds of power generators. Unfortunately, people who owned gas generators and didn't have a supply of gasoline on hand were faced with a surprising fact: Gas pumps were electrically powered. Gas stations affected by the blackout had no way of powering the pumps to get the gas out