NEWS : north america, March 2005

Regulatory compliance and critical system protection
A white paper which explores the role of mission-critical power and cooling in ensuring data integrity and availability.
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•Date: 24th March 2005 •Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: Power management
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Choosing a crisis notification system
There are a growing number of crisis communications solutions on the market, so how do business continuity managers set about choosing the best one for their organisation? Kathy Veldboom provides a checklist of key considerations.
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•Date: 24th March 2005 •Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: Crisis communications
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Study finds majority of enterprises unprepared to manage instant messaging threats
Although the majority of US enterprises have embraced formal policies for managing Internet and e-mail use in the workplace, 49 percent of them have no such policy for instant messaging according to a survey by SurfControl. www.surfcontrol.com
•Date: 24th March 2005 •Region: N.America •Type: Briefing •Topic: ISM
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Explosion at BP oil refinery
BP suffered a severe business continuity incident yesterday when an explosion caused severe damage at one of its oil refineries. At least 14 people died and more than 70 others were injured in the disaster. More details
•Date: 24th March 2005 •Region: N.America •Type: Briefing •Topic: BC general
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Updated emergency preparedness guide highlights key issues for handling the needs of people with disabilities
The US National Organization on Disability has revised its emergency management guidance.
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•Date: 23rd March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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TABB Group launches new global ‘Crisis & Continuity Services’ practice
The new division will be led by Alexander C. Tabb, a former Kroll Inc. associate managing director.
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•Date: 23rd March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: BC markets
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CPM Group launches consultancy practice
The CPM Group, a division of Witter Publishing Corporation has launched a specialised consultancy practice that primarily offers vetted consulting expertise to consultancies that need extra hands to support a project, as well as organisations of all sizes that need assistance in business continuity, security and emergency management. Paul Kirvan, FBCI, CBCP, CISSP, editor-in-chief of Global Assurance, will lead the new practice. pkirvan@witterpublishing.com
•Date: 23rd March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Briefing •Topic: BC markets
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USDA provides $3.2 million for natural disaster recovery efforts in Utah
US agriculture secretary Mike Johanns has announced that $3.2 million in Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP) funds will help restore natural resources and protect property damaged by recent flooding in Washington County, Utah. More details
•Date: 23rd March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Briefing •Topic: DR general
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SunGard up for sale
SunGard announced yesterday that it is in discussions concerning a possible purchase of the entire company.
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•Date: 22nd March 2005 • Region: N.America/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC markets
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Taking the terror out of terrorism
Some current Homeland security policies are playing into al Quaeda’s hands, says Sandia National Laboratories group.
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•Date: 22nd March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism
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IBM launches new data availability and disaster recovery options for the North American market
IBM's Electronic Data Management Services use an online, disk based storage and retrieval system for corporate data.
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•Date: 22nd March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity
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It’s US Flood Safety Awareness Week
The NOAA National Weather Service is hosting the first annual US Flood Safety Awareness Week from March 21st-25th, 2005, to raise public attention to the dangers of flooding and ways to protect life and property. http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2407.htm
•Date: 22nd March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Briefing •Topic: Emergency plan.
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Is the US homeland really secure or are we fooling ourselves?
Business continuity consultant Harvey Betan gives his personal view.
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•Date: 18th March 2005 •Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism
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BCI announces International National Rehearsal Day
The Business Continuity Institute is asking all governments and enterprises to use 19th March 2006 as a focal point for BC rehearsals.
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•Date: 18th March 2005 • Region: World •Type: Article •Topic: BC testing and exercising
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Major international counter-terrorism exercise to take place in April
The UK, US and Canadian governments will participate.
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•Date: 18th March 2005 • Region: N.America/UK •Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism
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DTCC opens Southern Business Center – a key component of its business continuity strategy
Helps DTCC to decentralize both people and facilities.
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•Date: 18th March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: Financial sector BC
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Chertoff outlines risk-based strategy for long-term homeland security
DHS secretary Michael Chertoff spells out how he expects homeland security to develop.
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•Date: 17th March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism
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US courts told to develop disaster recovery and continuity of operations plans
A new security blueprint for America's state courts has been published by the National Center for State Courts.
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•Date: 17th March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism
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Experts question hurricane categories
Hurricane forecasts need refining so people will better understand when to evacuate, agreed experts at the Disasters Roundtable held this week at The National Academies. Read the story
•Date: 17th March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Briefing •Topic: DR general
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Business continuity awareness raising: taking it to the next level
Various statistical and anecdotal evidence points to an increase in the awareness of business continuity, but how do we take this further? David Honour comments.
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•Date: 15th March 2005 •Region: World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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NFPA hosts seminars on NFPA 1600 in cities across the US
Two-day seminars will help organisations better understand the business continuity standard.
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•Date: 15th March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: Events
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Yosemite Technologies introduces ‘first innovative backup and recovery software solution in a decade’
Yosemite has made the above extravagant claim for its new Yosemite Backup Advanced solution. New features and functionality include the new Virtual Tape Library option, Disk-to-Disk-to-Any, that provides a multi-hierarchy approach to disk backup; Self Tuning Logic that automatically optimises backup and restore performance; and a self-healing catalogue that scales to billions of objects. Read press release
•Date: 15th March 2005 • Region: N.America/World •Type: Briefing •Topic: IT continuity
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Town of Belmont selects MessageOne’s Alertfind service for emergency broadcasts and notification
The Local Emergency Planning Committee of Belmont, Mass. has announced that it has selected MessageOne’s AlertFind service to enable town leaders to rapidly broadcast notification of critical information to its residents in the event of an emergency situation. www.messageone.com
•Date: 15th March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Briefing •Topic: Crisis comms
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Sarbanes-Oxley and outsourcing : time is running out for non-US companies
The issue of SOX remains a hot topic, especially for non-US companies listed in the US.
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•Date: 11th March 2005 •Region: Various •Type: Article •Topic: Operational risk
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Carnegie Mellon researchers develop new virus detection software
Will detect viruses in cellphones and other embedded systems.
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•Date: 11th March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: ISM
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Association of Contingency Planners launches New Jersey Chapter
The ‘Garden State Chapter’ will immediately begin providing networking, educational, and professional development services to the rapidly growing number of business continuity professionals in central and northern New Jersey.
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•Date: 11th March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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Engenio unveils Replication Express for DB2
Intuitive, policy-based software brings automation, higher availability and faster backup and restore to SANtricity storage environments. Read press release
•Date: 11th March 2005 • Region: N.America/World •Type: Briefing •Topic: IT continuity
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Practice makes almost perfect
The exercising of a business continuity plan is what separates successful recovery from disastrous failure. Dr. Jim Kennedy, MRP, MBCI explores the subject.
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•Date:10th March 2005 •Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC exercising
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Gill introduces ‘Campus Continuity’
Web-based business continuity training and plan development services for North American educational institutions.
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•Date: 10th March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: BC software
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New US terrorism insurance bill introduced
The ‘Terrorism Insurance Backstop Extension Act of 2005’ to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act was introduced in the House of Representatives yesterday (Wednesday). The current legislation is due to expire at the end of 2005, but the new bill seeks to extend the terrorism insurance program through to the end of 2007.
•Date: 10th March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Briefing •Topic: Terrorism
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Swiss Re study counts the cost of catastrophe
Insured losses related to disasters reach nearly 50bn US dollars in 2004.
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•Date: 8th March 2005 •Region: Various •Type: Article •Topic: DR general
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EnvoyWorldWide adds new functionality to enterprise notification system
Attendees at this week's Disaster Recovery Journal Conference in Orlando will see a demonstration of smart device activation, allowing notifications to be triggered from any HTML-enabled device including BlackBerry, PocketPC and Palm devices as well as a streamlined process for saving events and related teams for added preparation for unplanned events. Read press release
•Date: 8th March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: Crisis comms
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HP and Continuity Insights conducting ‘Executive Business Continuity Study’
You are invited to take part in a review of evolving management issues and trends in business continuity.
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•Date: 4th March 2005 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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Information Security Forum announces new good practice standard
The Information Security Forum has published the latest version of its international industry benchmark - the Standard of Good Practice for Info rmation Security. The updated 2005 version is freely available and is a detailed and comprehensive global standard that allows organisations to manage the full range of threats and improve levels of information security. http://www.isfsecuritystandard.com/index_ie.htm
•Date: 4th March 2005 • Region: US/World •Type: Briefing •Topic: ISM
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Strohl Systems announces joint marketing agreement with GalaxyPlus
Under a new joint marketing agreement GalaxyPlus, a provider of information technology services to credit unions and a Fiserv, Inc. business unit, will market and sell Strohl's PLANet online business continuity planning tool to its credit union customers. http://www.strohl.com
•Date: 4th March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Briefing •Topic: BC markets
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MIR3 launches inTechCenter for automated, interactive IT alerts
MIR3’s inTechCenter provides the ability to automatically notify managers and key IT personnel, in real-time, about critical application and system failures that could potentially threaten operational uptime and business continuity. Read press release
•Date: 4th March 2005 • Region: US/World •Type: Briefing •Topic: IT continuity
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Primary site selection strategies…
One of the keys to successful business continuity is choosing the right business location. Ed Reagan explains what main factors should be considered.
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•Date: 3rd March 2005 •Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC facilities/buildings
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Department of Homeland Security announces Buffer Zone Protection Program grants
$91.3 m in funding to protect and secure areas surrounding critical infrastructure and key resource sites.
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•Date: 3rd March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism
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Insects and viruses could hold the key for better human teamwork in disasters
Scientists are researching ant, bees and virus behaviours for ways to improve human collaboration.
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•Date: 3rd March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: DR general
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COOPIncident extends continuity planning software
COOP Systems has developed COOPIncident, a set of real time incident command functions to enhance myCOOP, its continuity planning solution. "Since inception, we've designed myCOOP to be actionable. COOPIncident leverages our existing capabilities to support the crisis management team during an actual exercise or event," said Chris Alvord , CEO of COOP Systems. www.coop-systems.com
•Date: 3rd March 2005 • Region: N.America/World •Type: Briefing •Topic: BC software
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‘Regulatory overkill’ tops list of banking risks
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers and CSFI’s latest financial sector ‘Banana Skins’ survey.
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•Date: 1st March 2005 • Region: Various •Type: Article •Topic: Financial sector
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Bank of America admits to losing backup tapes
Business continuity industry can learn lessons from the incident.
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•Date: 1st March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity
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Guidelines for protecting Federal computer systems issued
New NIST document covers 17 key security focus areas, including risk assessment, contingency planning and incident response.
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•Date: 1st March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity
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NSI Software publishes strong 2004 results
NSI’s revenue for the quarter was up more than 40 percent over 2003 with increased demand from larger and mid-sized customers, a booming channel program and continued strong demand among existing customers. NSI also reported that its annual revenues for 2004 grew more than 33 percent year over year. Read press release
•Date: 1st March 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Briefing •Topic: BC markets
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