Financial Firms Create Disaster Recovery Standards

Lucas Mearian   Today’s Top Stories   or  Other Disaster Recovery Stories  

Advances in SSL and Certificate Management HP StorageWorks EVA4400 & Microsoft Data Protection and Disaster Recovery with iSCSI and VMware 7 Requirements of Data Loss Prevention Ponemon Study: How much does a data breach "cost"? E-LOAN maintains reputation as a privacy leader with Symantec Data Loss Prevention solutions Virtual Reality Virtual Reality SaaS Solutions for Remote Systems Management Sign up to receive Disaster Recovery Resource Alerts

September 19, 2005 (Computerworld) -- Driven by a number of disasters in recent years, several financial services firms and IT vendors have joined forces to create disaster recovery and business continuity standards.
The Resiliency Maturity Model Project, overseen by the New York-based Financial Services Technology Consortium, will create benchmarks and define terms for business continuity planning across all areas of a financial enterprise, said Charles Wallen, managing executive of FSTC's Business Continuity Standing Committee and the project's director.
Plans to create the standards, which will also be available to companies in other industries, were announced last week by the FSTC.
Wallen said recent disasters like Hurricane Katrina reaffirm the need for "strong business continuity plans and a road map for third-party providers to understand what's needed. We have to do a better job at raising the bar."
Financial services companies involved in the project include CitiBank, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and MasterCard International Inc. IBM, Carnegie Mellon University and Disaster Recovery Institute International are also participating.
A Measure of Resiliency
A MasterCard spokeswoman said her company hopes the project can help other organizations move beyond disaster recovery into organizational sustainability. "We're looking at models to measure the resiliency of an organization," she said.
Wallen said the project, slated to be completed next spring, should give companies a road map to plan and measure their resiliency against a set of industry standards.
Brian Finley, chief technology officer at PSSD/World Medical Inc., a $1.5 billion medical equipment supply company in Jacksonville, Fla., agreed with the need for such standards but predicted that few companies will use them to prepare for disasters.
"I've seen and heard of customers that never test [disaster recovery plans]," Finley said. "Even if you create a set of standards, somebody's got to buy into those standards, and someone has to financially back the testing and documentation and the process and controls around it."
PSSD is not involved in the standards project.
The Resiliency Maturity Model Project is being carried out in two phases. The first, expected to be completed this month, will identify a list of disaster recovery capabilities that companies need. Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Mellon is providing the project with some maturity modeling methodologies that can identify different levels of preparedness organizations can reach.
The second phase, to be completed next spring, will include benchmarks and maturity models that will let companies compare their preparedness against some 40 standard capabilities.
Guillermo Kopp, an analyst at TowerGroup in Needham, Mass., said he believes the effort could lead to more business adoption of disaster recovery standards, because such frameworks can prove return on investment.
"The challenge is to keep thelevel of attention high," he said. "These projects are not a slam-dunk. It's more of a journey."

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

"Welcome to a special IT Blogwatch EXTRA: as Richi Jennings watches bloggers' reactions to the Russian hackers who claim to..." Read more... "As if taxpayers needed another reason to scorn the IRS. I read yesterday that the inspector general review of several..." Read more... Read more Security posts or See all Blogs

Feds considering changes to H-1B application process in wake of report Exploit code loose for six-month-old Windows bug With market meltdown, which tech firms become predator or prey? More top stories...

The Grill: Privacy is a thing of the past, says private investigator Report: World Bank servers breached repeatedly Apple asks judge to make iPhone lawsuit moot

Health hazards for IT workers -- how that desk job wears your body down Too much junk food, too little exercise and a 24/7 tether to technology? Your body ain't happy, friend. Let us count the pains. NASA robot sends back evidence it's snowing on Mars Instruments on the surface of Mars have detected falling snow that is likely evaporating before it reaches the planet. Wall Street's collapse may be computer science's gain One positive development stemming from the collapse of Wall Street may be a boost in interest in computer science and IT careers among students who were previously interested in financial services jobs. Installing Linux apps: A few good tips Getting new software installed on Linux doesn't have to be hard, but it can differ depending on what you're installing. Windows Vista A to Z Reviews, analyses, how-tos, visual tours, hot issues and predictions about Microsoft's new OS. More Continuing Coverage After 9/11: Homeland Security Apple's iPhone Ask a Premier 100 IT Leader Bill Gates steps down BlackBerry Legal Battle Data Security Breaches Electronic Voting Firefox H-1B Visas HP's Boardroom Scandal Handheld Devices Hurricane Katrina Aftermath Microsoft Legal Issues Microsoft's Vista Open Source RFID Technology SCO's Linux Fight Sarbanes-Oxley Act Spam Voice Over IP Wi-Fi Windows Meta File Vulnerability Windows XP Service Pack 3 IT Careers 2010 Four years from now, the IT field will be a vastly different place. Will you be ready? More Special Reports Premier 100 IT Leaders 2007 Best in Class 2006 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders 2006 Salary Survey 2007 Best Places to Work in IT 2007 IT Forecast 2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders 40 Years of Computerworld ASPs, Take Two Best Places to Work in IT 2003 Best Places to Work in IT 2004 Best Places to Work in IT 2005 Best Places to Work in IT 2006 Business Intelligence Home Runs Business Intelligence: Smarter BI Business Intelligence: The Future of BI CRM Goes Vertical CRM: Sober CRM Career Planning Guide 2005 Careers: IT Profession 2010 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2005 Data Management: Mining for Gems Data Management: Taming Data Chaos Development: Hard-Workin' Web Sites Development: New Tools New Choices Development: The New World of Application Development Development: The Web Services Tsunami Development: Web Services Hurdles Disaster Recovery: Preparing for the Worst E-commerce Grows Up E-mail/Groupware: Big Decisions Faces of Mobile IT Forecast 2006 Global Mobile Hardware: Multiple Cores, Multiple Challenges Hardware: On-Demand Un-Hyped Hardware: The Shape of Things to Come Horizon Awards: 10 Cool Cutting Edge Technologies IT Management: Guide to Managing Vendors IT Management: Navigating Global IT IT Management: Recovery Ahead IT Management: The Future of IT IT Management: The Resourceful Project Manager Innovative Technology Awards 2004 Management: Reinventing IT Microsoft in Transition Mobile/Wireless Leaders and Laggards Mobile/Wireless: The Untethered Worker Mobile/Wireless: Tiny Gadgets, Huge Costs Network Management: Taking Control Networking: Turbulence Ahead! Networking: VoIP Goes Mainstream Operating Systems: In the Slow Lane Operating Systems: Linux Goes Global Operating Systems: Should You Nix Unix? Outsourcing: Offshore Buyer's Guide Outsourcing: Outsourcing Dangers Premier 100 IT Leaders 2004 Best in Class Premier 100 IT Leaders 2005 Best in Class ROI: Do the Math! Salary Survey 2003 Salary Survey 2004 Salary Survey 2005 Security Action Plan Security: Compliance Headaches Security: Proactive Security Security: Risk and Reward Security: Tips From Security Pros Souped-up Security Storage: Battling Complexity Storage: Cheap & Secure Data Stores Storage: Stretching Your Storage Dollars Storage: The Lean Storage Machine Storage: The New Rules of Storage Storage: The Ultimate Backup Guide Supply Chain: Missing Links Supply Chain: RFID Reality Check The Business of Security Web 2.0 Security Wireless: Wireless At Work All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone The File Data Management Zone Security Management Zone The SAS Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone Windows Protection Zone The Enterprise Search Zone Software as a Service Zone The Security Zone See your link here

Long Tail Supplier Collaboration - What's In It For You? Long Tail Supplier Collaboration - What's In It For You? Download this webcast, free, compliments of Sterling Commerce Go to the webcast  Quick Sizing Guide for SAS Grid Running on HP BladeSystems and EVA Storage Download this white paper today! (Source: HP) Designed for CIOs, IT managers, data center managers and grid computing architects seeking to improve performance, SAS Grid Computing on the HP BladeSystem c-Class helps accelerate growth and mitigate risks with a simplified, consolidated infrastructure that's agile enough to efficiently handle change. SAS Grid Manager on HP BladeSystem can lower costs through automation, virtualization and improved IT efficiency. Download this white paper  Virtual Reality Download this Computerworld briefing, a $49.95 value free, compliments of Riverbed Technologies. (Source: Computerworld) Is your organization facing the struggles of ineffective capacity utilization, growing data volumes, labor intensive storage management, and a need for better disaster recovery? The data center is real, but storage is turning virtual at many organizations that need to manage these exploding storage needs. Learn how your organization can benefit from storage virtualization in this new Computerworld Report, available free for a limited time, compliments of Riverbed. Download this executive briefing  White Papers Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Business Transaction Management: Facilitating the Management of Virtual Environments Quick Sizing Guide for SAS Grid Running on HP BladeSystems and EVA Storage Prudential Financial protects its brand with Symantec Data Loss Prevention solutions View more whitepapers

• Feds considering changes to H-1B application process in wake of report
• The Grill: Privacy is a thing of the past, says private investigator
• Exploit code loose for six-month-old Windows bug
• More top stories 

Go Green with Webroot® Perimeter Security SaaS! Webroot Perimeter Security SaaS is a powerful alternative to obsolete on-premise hardware based security solutions. SaaS allows businesses to obtain flexible protection through an expert security provider, solving the problems caused by software, hardware and appliance solutions. Benefits include easier manageability, better protection and guaranteed performance –all at a lower cost. Register for your free copy of the "Why Security SaaS Makes Sense" whitepaper and Go Green with Webroot! Download this white paper now!