TechnologySeptember 1, 2026

failover

FAIL-oh-ver

Definition

A method of protecting high-availability systems by automatically switching to a redundant or standby computer server, system, hardware component, or network upon the failure of the previously active device.

Etymology

The term is a compound of 'fail' and 'over,' first appearing in the mid-20th century technical lexicon to describe the process of a system 'failing' and then transferring 'over' to a backup.

In the news

In the article, failover refers to the automatic transition between primary and secondary network connections, which ensures that emergency communications remain active even if the primary connection fails.

Preparing critical services for the PSTN switch-off

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