Business continuity briefs:
2nd February 2007

'Business continuity briefs' provides a summary of new product and services press releases and other useful resources published in the last 24 hours.

NIST wants comments on proposed 'hash' competition
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is planning a competition to develop one or more cryptographic ‘hash’ algorithms to augment and revise the current Secure Hash Standard (Federal Information Processing Standard 180-2). As a first step in this process, NIST is looking for comments on its recently published draft minimum acceptability requirements, submission requirements and evaluation criteria for candidate algorithms. For more information on the proposed competition and to submit comments on the draft hash algorithm requirements and evaluation criteria, see www.nist.gov/hash-function

Gartner says worldwide security software revenue will reach $9.1 Billion in 2007
Driven by continued growth in the antivirus software market, worldwide security software revenue is expected to total $9.1 billion in 2007, a 10.7 percent increase over 2006 revenue of $8.2 billion, according to Gartner, Inc. Antivirus software revenue is expected to total $4.9 billion in 2007, and will account for 53.8 percent of the total security software industry. “Prioritizing, choosing and maintaining security technologies will continue to be top issues for enterprises in 2007,” said Nicole Latimer-Livingston, principal research analyst at Gartner.

SNIA’S SMI-S Standard Adopted by ISO and IEC
The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) has announced that its Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S) has been designated an International Standard by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). This designation is expected to further accelerate the already widespread adoption of the standard by storage vendors and IT users in all markets worldwide. www.snia-europe.org

Current environmental stories with business continuity implications:

FEMA daily SITREP

President declares major disaster for Oklahoma

Two declarations deliver public assistance to seven Oklahoma counties

Global temperatures will rise by 3C by 2100 and sea levels will increase by 18cm to 59cm, UN climate report predicts

Floods cause havoc in Jakarta

Emergency services responding to Queensland floods
As floods continue throughout parts of Queensland, Emergency Services Minister Pat Purcell and Emergency Management Queensland (EMQ) Executive Director Frank Pagano have assured businesses and residents that the Department of Emergency Services (DES) is responding as the situation develops. Mr Pagano said: “EMQ has activated the State Disaster Coordination Centre, and deployed additional staff members into regional areas to support local disaster managers,” he said. “Sandbags are being distributed as required, and re-supply operations for communities cut off by flood waters are also continuing today.” Mr Purcell said Emergency Services are also closely monitoring the development of a tropical low located in the Gulf of Carpentaria, which could develop into a cyclone in the next few days.

•Date: 2nd February 2007• Region: Various