Financial services readiness tested

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association has released, on its Web site, a summary report of the results of its June industry-wide Business Continuity Planning Test, says MondoVisione.

In the 2007 test, 230 financial services firms participated in the test, an increase of 25% compared to the 2006 test. Also participating were exchanges, markets and securities information processors.

The goals of this year's test were to assess the ability of securities market participants to operate through a significant emergency from their backup data centres and work area recovery sites and to examine the overall level of resiliency of the markets; assess the ability of firms and markets to handle a delayed market opening, and provide firms and exchanges with an opportunity to test and evaluate their backup communications with the markets.

On-Communications, a fixed wireless access provider, has unveiled its new Diverse Backup connectivity solution, says TMCnet.com.

With this, buildings will get a totally wire-free WiMax alternative connection.

The Diverse Backup is an alternative for business continuity and disaster recovery plans as it is totally independent of BT Openreach and the 'last mile' local loop.

Value-added reseller Ramsac will begin a series of branded business continuity packages in the second half of 2008, including an insurance-backed contract offering clients access to a 12-user network. At the moment it only offers business continuity consulting, says CRN.

"Business continuity is a growth area for us. A couple of years ago only larger businesses took notice of it, but now everyone does," said Ramsac MD Robert May.

Ashish Patel, UK and Ireland regional manager at business continuity vendor Stonesoft, said: "We see more of our resellers understanding the concept of business continuity. More often than not it is now an item for boardroom discussion."