1. A method for recovering software applications after a catastrophic failure, said method comprising: operating a first computing unit at a first location, said first computing unit having a first plurality of software applications executing thereon; operating a second computing unit at a second location, said second computing unit having a second plurality of software applications executing thereon, said second location remotely located from said first location, and said first and second computing units functioning effectively as a single computing unit; monitoring a message traffic between said first and said second computing units, said message traffic including one or more predefined error messages; and recovering said first plurality of software applications on said second computing unit in response to said one or more predefined error messages indicating a loss of said first computing unit, wherein the first computing unit has been determined to be unresponsive in response to said one or more predefined error messages indicating the loss, and wherein one or more of said first plurality of software applications recovered on said second computing unit is identified before occurrence of said catastrophic failure.