Disaster Recovery Journal, Fall 2009

NEWS BRIEFS

TFCC, IntraPoint Announce Partnership

COLUMBUS, Ohio and RESTON, Va. — Twenty First Century Communications (TFCC), provider of emergency notification solutions and IntraPoint, leader in incident and crisis management solutions, has announced a partnership to offer a complete incident command center solution.

The integration of the two solutions provides a complete incident management and emergency notification offering. This will provide companies with the capability to manage incidents and crises from a single dashboard and will allow companies to be prepared when an incident or crisis occurs.

Companies are increasingly seeking automated, real time crisis decision support systems in order to ensure that the lifecycle of any incident or crisis can be effectively managed from planning to execution and recovery. IntraPoint’s Crisis Manager provides operational assurance during a crisis by allowing proper planning, minimized response time, utilization of geographically dispersed resources, and enabling minimal negative impact to people, the environment and assets.

For more information, visit www.tfcci.com.

Low Cost Disaster Recovery Plans For Computer Rooms And Business Units

CHICAGO, Ill. — Persson Associates, in the business of helping companies develop disaster recovery plans for more than 25 years, has improved their web site to not only offer simple, easy to use planning products but at a cost everyone can afford. 100’s have been sold over the past 10 years.

The products offered by Persson Associates cover the main areas to address: data centers and business units (aka departments). They are written in easy to follow set of “templates” along with specific instructions, chapter by chapter. They cover the planning requirements from simple contact lists, equipment requirements, emergency steps, to suggested recovery action task lists. Everything needed to start the plan development is included.

Now, the disaster recovery plan development products (all new version 7.0) are available on line, at our web site, as a download, for $99 each. Do not let the low price deter you. Go to the web site and read the recent customer feedback comments about the ease of use and thoroughness. See what those who are using the products have to say.

To get started immediately, visit our web site, and purchase the specific product to fit your needs, pay on line, and download the product and instructions. Now all companies can afford to start the disaster recovery plan development process. For more information, visit www.personassociates.com.

Five Key Considerations in DR Planning From SunGard Availability Services

WAYNE, Pa. — Business and technology environments are more complex than ever and the reliance on information technology is firmly entrenched in the success factors of most organizations. Being prepared to respond to situations – both planned and unexpected – that threaten to disrupt essential business systems and processes, is a major corporate

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concern.

A recent survey commissioned by SunGard Availability Services and conducted by Harris Interactive, found that disaster recovery planning is a priority for many organizations. Eighty-six percent of IT executives said they have a disaster recovery plan in place at their organization. While the economy has impacted IT budgets overall, 43 percent of IT respondents indicated the economy has not impacted their disaster recovery investment (including planning) - with another 33 percent saying investment in disaster recovery has become more important.

To help organizations in developing disaster recovery plans, SunGard offers the following counsel.

• The plan starts with employee safety. Every disaster recovery plan needs to begin by addressing the physical safety and psychological well-being of employees.

• Conduct a business impact analysis. Carry out a thorough analysis of people, information, application and other resources to build an understanding of the consequences - financial and operational - of losing vital components.

• Don’t plan in a vacuum. You need to involve all key stakeholders in the planning process, including IT, business leaders, human resources, corporate communications, and physical and information security managers.

• Your disaster recovery plan needs to be a living document. Business processes and IT systems undergo constant change in every organization.

• Your plan can advance your business and marketing goals. For many companies, a disaster recovery plan is an untapped resource in business partner and customer relationships.

SunGard business continuity management software helps organizations build and maintain disaster recovery plans with an industry-standard planning tool. By leveraging a common platform, it enables data consistency across multiple planning, testing and execution-management processes, as well as seamless enterprise reporting.

For more information, visit www.availability. sungard.com.

NASA Lab Keeps Cool During LA Fire with Everbridge

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Everbridge, the world’s recognized leader in incident notification systems, has announced that NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) used the Everbridge Aware emergency notification system to maintain emergency communications with its 7,200 employees, contractors and affiliates during the destructive station fire that charred the Angeles National Forest.

From the onset of the fires through containment efforts, JPL leveraged the Everbridge emergency notification service to mobilize response groups; send critical information about the status of the Laboratory to personnel; coordinate situation updates and reports with executives; and activate voluntary urban search and rescue (USAR) teams.

Everbridge, the world’s recognized leader in incident notification systems, merges technology with industry expertise to help millions of people communicate in a crisis, manage operational incidents and connect on a daily basis. The company’s notification platform and incident lifecycle communications

model makes communicating to many as simple and effective as communicating to one. Organizations in more than 100 countries—including Salesforce. com, Air Tran Airways, the American Red Cross, and Virginia Tech—rely on Everbridge for their emergency notification and day-to-day communication needs.

For more information, visit www.everbridge. com

RDAC Software Suite Analyzes Thousands of Layers of Geospatial Data

CHESAPEAKE, Va. — No one could have guessed the new paradigm for preparedness would be built by two data experts in a garage. IP Systems International LLC’s RDAC (Rapid Dynamic Analytical Capability) Software Suite is a dynamic, high-speed analytical platform that automatically analyzes geospatial data to provide an array of capabilities for training, planning, assessment, operations and response.

For instance, RDAC is capable of processing data from multiple data sets, including geospatial data points of information, to build probable scenarios around natural disasters before they occur, potentially saving lives. But the platform’s applications are extremely diverse; RDAC can manipulate that same data and new data to provide an intuitive overview of market penetration for businesses looking to expand into new locations where the demographic outlook matches their target audiences.

Perhaps most importantly, RDAC is interoper-able with any system following Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards – meaning it can interpret data from other databases and programs with very little manual translation. The software is stand alone and web-based, so it can be accessed from anywhere in the world.

For more information, visit: www.ipsysi.com/ sub/rdac.

NFPA DRI International Partner to Offer Auditor Certifications

BOSTON, Mass and NEW YORK, NY – The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRI) have joined forces to create an education and certification program that will qualify participants to audit disaster/emergency management and business continuity programs against existing standards and regulations. Certifications available are: Certified Business Continuity Auditor (CBCA) or Certified Business Continuity Lead Auditor (CBCLA).

NFPA, the authority on fire and life safety, and DRI, the leading certification and education body in business continuity planning, have announced a new interactive certification program that provides training, tools and hands-on experience. Through the program, participants will be able to apply the key components of disaster/emergency management and business continuity, the relevant standards, laws and regulations, the process of risk assessment, vulnerability analysis, loss prevention, risk mitigation, and develop, implement, test and maintain their plans and procedures.