Disaster Preparedness Continuity Planning 101 A Continuing Educational Series

The meeting of the Disaster & Business Continuity Planning Seminar at ITEXPO West 2007 marks both the second anniversary of the Disaster Planning Communication Forum (DPCF) and the announcement of some new DPCF initiatives.

First, TMC and the Enterprise Communications Association (ECA, http://www.encomm.org) are committed to combining their efforts to launch the DPCF and contribute to its ongoing management. The DPCF has always operated as an open forum welcoming all contributors. Since conception, the DPCF evolved into a group of vendors and resellers dedicated to educating enterprises on the need and value of business continuity planning. The goal of the DPCF was never displace any other organizations as the disaster planning industry is well-established and incorporates both the public and private sectors. Our efforts were directed to educating enterprises on the role Converged IP can play in ensuring business continuity.

It is now time to move on to Stage II and roll out additional services with the first being a DPCF Channel on the TMC website. Most readers are already familiar with TMC’s Channel services as they are such a valuable research tool. For the uninitiated however, channels allow TMC readers to select specific topics and stay in-tune with those topics by browsing the site or receiving current news via automated alerts. If you have not previously activated channel services, the following instructions will provide you with guidelines:

Go to http://www.tmcnet.com and position your cursor on the “Channels Home” selection on the upper left-side of the page. Reposition cursor to “VoIP A-H” and then to “Disaster Planning”. To activate daily news alerts on the DPCF, please select “Sign Up Here” from the red box.

Persons interested in DPCF related information may find the following keywords useful:

Keyword 1: “FEMA” -

Keyword 2: “NOAA” -

Keyword 3: “business continuity”

After following the instructions, you will receive an email with the subject “TMC News Alert Service” with an “Activation” link. Following activation you will automatically receive information on your selected channels and keywords.

You can also select the following link to go directly to the DPCF page: http:/www.tmcnet.com/channels/disaster-planning/

The site will include selections for the “Latest News” and a “Featured Articles” section. The “Latest News” will feature automatic news feeds based on keywords associated with the subject matter of the DPCF Channel as outlined above. Links to key disaster sites such as NOAA (http://www.noaa.gov) and FEMA (http://www.fema.gov) will be included as well as other public and private sector organizations.

The “Featured Articles” section will feature previous TMC DPCF columns by Rich Tehrani and Max Schroeder plus articles written by other TMCnet editors and guest writers. In addition, this section will include white papers, checklists, press releases, guidelines, instructional manuals and other materials relevant to disaster and business continuity planning. References to specialized needs such as disaster prevention for educators and school systems (see June 2007 column) will also be included as part of the library: http://www.tmcnet.com/974.1

As stated above, The DPCF has always operated as an open forum welcoming all contributors. To learn more about how your organization can contribute to this project, please send an email to Rich or Max at the addresses listed below. Or better yet, attend this year’s workshop at INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO West in Los Angeles on September 10, 2007. Audience participation is strongly encouraged, so come prepared with questions for the panelists or bring materials that you feel should be included on the DPCF Channel site. This year’s 2-hour workshop will host a selection of experienced panelists who will address how an enterprise can and must plan to avoid a serious interruption of business operations. Panelists will include application vendors, resellers, and managed service providers from DPCF participating companies. This workshop is also a must for resellers looking to enter this market. IT

Max Schroeder is a board member of the ECA, media relations committee chairman, and liaison to TMC. He is also the Senior Vice President of FaxCore, Inc.

Rich Tehrani is the President and Group Editor-in-Chief at TMC and is Conference Chairman of Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO.

If your organization has an interest in participating in the TMC/ECA Disaster Preparedness Communications Forum, please contact [email protected] or [email protected].

If you are interested in purchasing reprints of this article (in either print or PDF format), please visit Reprint Management Services online at http://www.reprintbuyer.com or contact a representative via email at [email protected]or by phone at 800-290-5460.

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