NEWS BRIEFS
BCI Launches
2013 Good Practices Guidelines
LOMBARD, Ill. — As part of ICOR’s alliance with the BCI, ICOR members have access
the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) 2013 Good
Practice Guidelines (GPG) as part of their ICOR
membership. Download the 2013 GPG. (note: The
ICOR Library uses your email as your login and the
password you created or the one ICOR randomly
provided to you.) In addition, ICOR’s Business
Continuity Management education programs: BCM
2000 and BCM 4000 now include the 2013 GPG
body of knowledge.
The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) released
its latest edition of the Good Practice Guidelines
on March 18, 2013. The Good Practice Guidelines
(GPG) are the independent body of knowledge for
good Business Continuity practice worldwide.
The GPG has undergone a thorough revision to
ensure that the 2013 edition represents and includes
current global thinking in good Business Continuity
( BC) practice and includes terminology from ISO
22301:2012, the International Standard for Business
Continuity management systems.
The real value of the GPG to BC professionals
is that it considers not just the ‘what’ to do but also
the ‘why’, ‘how’ and ‘when’ of practices written by
real-world experts.
The GPG 2013 has been subject to a stringent
quality assurance process to ensure it continues to
drive the highest standards in BC and draws upon
the considerable academic, technical and practical
experiences and expertise of BC professionals from
across the BCI’s global Statutory membership.
In addition to providing a robust and proven
guide to all BC professionals, the GPG serves as a
recognised industry benchmark against which BC
professionals can be effectively measured and their
professional and technical competency examined.
Practical knowledge of the GPG underpins the
BCI Statutory membership application process that
requires its members to demonstrate competency
across all six of the GPG’s Professional Practices at a
Management and Technical level.
All BCI Certification Training, which is based
on the GPG, including the Certificate of the BCI
Examination (CBCI), which tests a candidate’s
knowledge of the Good Practice Guidelines and is
one of the entry points to BCI Statutory membership,
are also being reviewed and revised by the BCI’s
Technical Team to ensure full alignment to the new
GPG.
For more information, visit www.thebci.org.
Xmatters Enhances Smartphone
Access to Its Leading BC and IT
Notification Technologies
SAN RAMON, Calif. — xMatters, inc., the
relevance engine company, today announced
enhancements to its mobile capabilities for business
continuity and IT management communications. The
company’s new Android and enhanced iOS applications build on the recent acquisition of the Bamboo
mobile incident management application to further
solidify xMatters’ position as the leader in mobile IT
and business continuity communications.
With xMatters’ smartphone applications, companies can use push notifications to deliver critical
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information and communication plans to the right
employees at the right time. As a result, people can
initiate remediation efforts from virtually anywhere.
Combined with Bamboo’s ability to publish incident
management plans to smartphones for offline access,
xMatters’ comprehensive mobile business continuity
and IT notification solution now enables workers to
drive resolution processes forward through mobile
devices.
For more information, visit www.xmatters.com.
Avalution Consulting Announces
Free and Pro Versions of Catalyst
Business Continuity Software
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Avalution Consulting– a
leading provider of business continuity consulting
and software solutions – has announced the release
of a Free and Pro edition of Catalyst business continuity software.
Catalyst is web-based business continuity software that combines a simple user interface and
on-screen guides with Avalution’s consulting methodology to make continuity planning easy and
repeatable for every organization.
Features that span all versions of Catalyst include
Policy and Procedure Development, Business
Impact Analysis, Recovery Strategy Definition, Plan
Development (Business and IT), Exercising, and
General Program Management. These features enable
users to quickly build comprehensive business continuity and IT disaster recovery programs, with no
monthly fee.
For more information, visit www.avalution.com.
COOP Systems:
Four 2-Minute BCM Videos
HERNDON, VA — COOP Systems, the developer of the most advanced business continuity management (BCM) software package in the world, has
released 2-minute videos on four very topical BCM
subjects. They can be accessed at the content area of
the COOP web site.
“It can be difficult to quickly explain some of
the basic principles and benefits of a BCM program,
especially as it relates to standards, automation
and newer technology,” said Chris Alvord, CEO of
COOP Systems. “Inadequate program funding and
lack of tools is common. With a modest investment,
great improvements are possible. These four short
video clips are designed to explain some basic con-
cepts about key BCM ideas, to better educate your
organization.”
These and other videos, White Papers, articles
and presentations are available by clicking to the
content area of the COOP web site.
For more information, visit www.coop-systems.
com.
SIOS First, Only Solution
Enabling Native SQL Server Failover
Clustering in Amazon Cloud
SAN MATEO, Calif. — SIOS Technology, a
leading provider of business continuity and disas-
ter recovery solutions, has announced the launch of
SteelEye DataKeeper Cloud Edition, the first and
only high-performance data replication solution to
deliver unmatched, real-time SQL Server data pro-
tection in Amazon EC2 environments. A joint effort
with Amazon, SteelEye Datakeeper Cloud Edition
is the only solution to enable native SQL Server
failover clustering in the Amazon Cloud without
requiring shared storage (SANs).
Vocal Announces Partnership
to Launch Award-winning Crisis
Communication Solution in Australia
UK-based business continuity and communication solution specialist Vocal has announced a new
strategic alliance with leading crisis management
firm CQ Australia, which sees the introduction of its
award-winning iModus crisis communications solution to the Australian market.
The move will ensure that Australasian customers can tackle natural disasters, emergencies, business incidents, such as IT outages or local authority
situations with greater speed and efficiency using the
acclaimed iModus package.
Vocal’s iModus portfolio of crisis and emergency
notification, enterprise wide on demand messaging
and incident management tools is used by governments and corporations across the globe and was
employed with great effect to coordinate emergency
teams after major business affecting incidents such
as Hurricane Sandy, the 7/7 terrorist bombings in
London and more recently during the London 2012
Olympic and Paralympic Games.
For more information, www.vocal.co.uk.
xMatters Acquires Deloitte Australia’s
Bamboo Product Line
San Ramon, CA – xMatters, inc., the relevance
engine company, has announced the acquisition of
Bamboo, a leading industry mobile incident management application developed by professional services
firm Deloitte Australia. Deloitte introduced Bamboo
in 2011 as a “mobile-first” incident management
technology, revolutionizing how workplace disasters
and crises are handled with its innovative mobile
technology.
Bamboo publishes incident management plans,
procedures and actions to an individual’s smartphone
in a practical and friendly way. When a plan or procedure is added or changed, Bamboo automatically
updates only the affected users based on their role
and other criteria. This means that even when a network fails, users can still access the latest critical
information and response plans.
