Verizon to offer business continuity & disaster recovery solutions

Telecom giant, Verizon is heading into a new field. The company is aiming to become a systems integrator addressing business continuity and disaster recovery needs of companies. Announced yesterday, the Verizon is partnering with King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based Strohl Systems, a consulting firm specializing in continuity and disaster recovery plans. As part of this new push into this market, Verizon Business will begin conducting next week a series of hurricane preparedness seminars in the southeastern United States. It also plans to focus on secure remote solutions for the possibility of a pandemic flu outbreak. An AT&T and Cisco Systems survey found that over a third of worldwide businesses do not have any formal plans in place to protect themselves against disaster. This makes it an opportune time for companies like Verizon to jump into the arena of continuity planning while a significant number of companies still lack protection. Verizon faces strong competition from companies such as IBM whose business continuity sector was there to provide customized enterprise solutions to customers in the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort.

The venture with Strohl Systems allows Verizon to work up front with customers instead of merely being a backup system. Strohl’s business continuity planners will work with customers developing continuity plans in order to keep business operations secure and keep everyone connected. In compliance with regulations — including HIPPA and the Sarbanes Oxley Act — to keep data accessible at all times Verizon Business is also offering a Resilient Network Attached Storage (RNAS) solution. This solution will provide network transport & access from Verizon Business, network attached platforms and software from EMC Corp. and equipment from Cisco Systems. This new solution will provide companies the ability to have data in a secure centralized location and provide access to employees who are not working in the office.

Verizon Business has also signed a three year contract with Miami, Florida-based DBK Concepts, a provider of mobile data-collection systems for inventory management. This deal will let DBK use Verizon’s Premium Data Center in Miami to house their critical voice and data communications infrastructure in orders to help reduce the risk of a major service disruption, especially during hurricanes.

-read more in this Xchange article; see also the Web sites of Verizon Business | Strohl Systems | DBK Concepts