NEWS BRIEFS
Strategic BCP Rated as ‘Positive’ in
MarketScope for Business Continuity
Management Planning Software
PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa.– Strategic BCP,
Inc., a business continuity management (BCM)
planning company and creator of ResilienceONE®
software, today announced it was rated a “Positive”
in Gartner’s “MarketScope for Business Continuity
Management Planning Software” report (Roberta J.
Witty, Tom Scholtz, May 13, 2010).
According to the MarketScope, “having current
and effective recovery plans is the key to success
during a disaster, and these tools are ‘ground zero’
for effective crisis and business recovery. We antici-
pate adoption to grow in the next five years, given the
increased focus from government agencies – federal,
state and local – as well as private-sector prepared-
ness initiatives.”
Strategic BCP offers demos of its
ResilienceONE® BCP software for the media, busi-
ness continuity planners and consultants, and execu-
tives from organizations of all sizes, from small to
mid-sized companies to global enterprises. Please
email contact@strategicbcp.com for more informa-
tion.
Norwich University Graduates
First Class of Master of Science in
Business Continuity
NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Norwich University’s
Master of Business Continuity Management (MSBC)
program graduated its first class on June 11, 2010.
Fifteen business continuity professionals from a
variety of fields, in the public and the private sector,
completed the degree online in 18 months of continuous study.
The coursework was capped by a one week residency and graduation at the university’s Vermont
campus. Students at the residency engaged in professional conferences, discussions, seminars, and other
academic and social activities to cement relationships
with one another and strengthen their connection to
the university.
The Master of Business Continuity Management
program provides a comprehensive and in-depth
understanding of all aspects of business continuity--including plan development, incident response, risk
management, plan testing, and auditing.
Norwich University was recently awarded a
chapter of the Epsilon Pi Phi Honor Society, which
recognizes exceptional students and programs in
emergency management, homeland security, and
business continuity. A number of current students
have been accepted into the prestigious society.
A number of students in the MSBC Management
program have been accepted into this prestigious society, including Matthew Bambrick, Mary
Cashman, Susana Mueller, and Dianne Tarpy. The
MSBC Management program provides a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of all aspects
of business continuity including plan development,
incident response, risk management, plan testing,
and auditing. Small classes provide adult students
with the opportunity to explore issues with fellow
professionals and engage in research that advances
understanding and practice of business continuity
principles.
For more information, visit www.norwich.gradu-
ate.edu.
TFCC Releases Newest Version
of Its Mass Notification System,
Now Called TFCC Alert
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Twenty First Century
Communications (TFCC) announces the release of
TFCC Alert, the newest version of its mass notification system. New advanced alerting capabilities
improve communications, increase the effectiveness
of emergency efforts, and ultimately reduce the costs
of a traditional communications infrastructure. With
the TFCC Alert mass notification system, corporate
and business continuity clients can send targeted
messages to select groups by landline, cell phone,
VoIP phone, PDA, pager, text, email, fax and TTY/
TDD machines.
TFCC Alert includes a new user interface. The
task based workflow and one-page quick launch
make sending notifications stress-free. Users now
select the type of message they’d like to send and
TFCC Alert will present only the options needed for
the particular message type.
TFCC Alert allows for an unlimited number of
users and includes a flexible array of user profiles
with different permissions, access and visibility
restrictions. The system also allows for limitless
security groups and provides clients with the ability
to self-manage their groups.
TFCC Alert is backed by Twenty First Century
Communications’ client care commitment. Each
client is partnered with a dedicated client manager
and supported by a live 24/7/365 Help Desk. Clients
also have access to the new online Resource Center
featuring best practices, FAQ’s, sample operating
procedures, training exercises and much more. All
of this is in addition to the enhanced Online Help,
a searchable online database of easy-to-find technical help.
For more information, visit www.tfcci.com.
Florida Residents Should Make
Emergency Communication Plans as
2010 Hurricane Season Approaches
TAMPA, Fla. – With the 2010 Hurricane Season
set to begin June 1, Floridians are urged to be ready
for hurricanes and storms by preparing an emergency
communication plan. Verizon Wireless, which operates the nation’s most reliable and largest voice and
3G data network, offers residents these tips to be safe
and in touch this storm season:
• Keep wireless phone batteries fully charged – in
case local power is lost – well before warnings are
issued.
• Have additional charged batteries and car-charger
adapters available for back-up power.
• Keep phones, batteries, chargers and other
equipment in a dry, accessible location.
• Maintain a list of emergency phone numbers –
police, fire, and rescue agencies; power companies;
insurance providers; family, friends and co-workers;
etc. – and program them into your phone.
• Distribute wireless phone numbers to family
members and friends.
• Forward your home phone calls to your wireless
number if you evacuate.
Verizon Wireless has continued the intensive
investments and preparations that proved critical
during and after past years’ extraordinary storm sea-
sons. These include building “Super Switch” call
processing hubs across the state designed to with-
stand Category 5 hurricanes; deploying teams of
“Test Men” to ensure network coverage is strong;
maintaining a fleet of dozens of Cells on Wheels
(COWS), Cells on Light Trucks (COLTS), and gen-
erators on trailers (GOa TS); adding cell sites, more
than 80 percent of which have their own back-up
power; and many more initiatives. These efforts are
part of a network investment exceeding $240 mil-
lion in Florida during the past year, and $2 billion in
the state since the company was formed. Nationally,
Verizon Wireless has spent about $55 billion to
enhance its digital wireless network since 2000.
Recovery Point Data Center
Achieves Prestigious Uptime Institute
Tier III Certification
GAITHERSBURG, Md. – Recovery Point, a
leading national provider of integrated business
continuity solutions to government agencies and
commercial and non-profit organizations has been
certified as a Tier III facility by the Uptime Institute.
Independent of any Engineer-of-Record or manufacturer affiliation, Uptime Institute Professional
Services consulting teams help clients like Recovery
Point develop and execute solutions that are responsive to their unique business needs in order to ensure
their data center is managed for uninterruptible
uptime over sustained periods.
The Uptime Institute is the only firm licensed
to rate and Certify topology against the Uptime
Institute’s Tier Classification System. The current list
of clients with official Tier ratings includes industry-leading organizations around the world.
For more information visit www.recoverypoint.
com.
Florida Business Continuity Center
Opens to Fulfill Disaster Recovery
Needs
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Florida Business
Continuity Center has opened, with capacity to meet
the disaster recovery and business continuity needs
for alternate workforce recovery services, responding to market demand. Located in Winter Haven,
Florida within the Inland Fiber & Data Technology
Park, the FBCC was established to provide full
service alternate workforce recovery facilities and
services for businesses and government entities
throughout Florida.
According to the Association of Contingency
Planners, business continuity planning should be
an integral part of every business – large and small,
public and private. Every business should plan for
how it would continue to operate in the face of interruption from a variety of natural or manmade hazards.
Organizations are becoming keenly aware of the
critical importance of the continuity of their business
operations in disaster or related outage scenarios. The
availability of critical business processes extends far
beyond Information Technology (IT) continuity and
recovery with a fundamental reliance on continued
core office and personnel work-related functions.
