In the event of any disaster corporate enterprises need to have a well implemented and effective business continuity strategy that addresses the needs of the entire enterprise. The strategy needs to be comprehensive covering the needs of the IT infrastructure and the extended enterprise. Companies that will be successful in the event of a disaster are those that live ‘business continuity’ on a daily basis. For companies that currently have a business continuity plan in place, this conference will help make sure that your company is taking into account all the considerations that need to be made for the IT infrastructure and extended enterprise.

In this one day conference, attendees will learn the following:

• How industry trends and directions will affect planning & recovery efforts
• How to better communicate the value of your efforts and your program to executive management
• Implementing proactive measures for security and backup processes
• How to effectively work with other departments (outside of IT)
• Enterprise involvement and buy-In of the business continuity plan
• Tools and techniques to be used when implementing a BC/DR plan
• Shared experiences of how other IT departments are effectively managing DR/BC
   

Conference Program

9:00am-10:00am
IT Continuity: How Resilient Are You?
Jon William Toigo, CEO and Managing Partner, Toigo Partners International LLC

Aspects of Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity are constantly changing due to the dynamic and challenging times the world as a whole is facing.  How do you ensure that your DR/BC plan can address the changes you and your organization are constantly faced with on a daily basis?  How can you make sure your infrastructure can support today’s climate in the event of a disaster and future unforeseen disasters?

In this session attendees will:

• Gain a solid understanding of ‘Resilient Architectures’
• Learn how to get management buy-in to support resilient architectures
• How to modify your DR/BC plan to support resiliency
• How to refine your IT infrastructure for today’s/tomorrow’s potential disasters

10:00 - 10:30 Break

10:30-11:30am
Working Through Disaster: How Proper Planning Can Help You Mitigate the Consequences of a Full-Blown Disaster
Steve Colby, Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Manager, Grant Thornton
Joe Parla, Business Continuity Architect, Grant Thornton

In this session attendees will learn how an enterprise IT department faced with absolute disaster had the proper planning and associated IT infrastructure in place.  The speaker will share with you their planning methodology and what techniques they used to avoid the potential disaster that awaited them.

11:30am-12:30pm
Tools & Technologies to Help You Effectively Manage Your Data Management & Disaster Recovery
Chris Hyrne, Vice President, Product Management, Topio

Many businesses have recently experienced the benefits of a new take on disaster recovery and data backup. This session will address tools and techniques for ensuring proper protection for multiple operating systems, multiple databases, and not only a business’ servers but also company desktops and laptops.  Attendees will learn about the differences between backing up and archiving their data, as well as how to set up a policy of how often to back up their information and what to include when they do so.  Attendees will also learn the technical makeup of a remote backup solution, the details of data replication, disaster recovery and business continuity, and how they can provide very viable storage options for many different types and sizes of businesses.

12:30pm-1:30pm - Luncheon

1:30pm-2:30pm
Data Encryption: Proactive Measures for Security and Backup Processes
Doug Chamberlain, Product Manager, Spectra Logic Corporation

Increasingly, the vulnerability of non-encrypted backed up data is in the spotlight: companies including Marriott, Bank of America and CitiFinancial recently made headlines because of lost backup tapes that put personal client information at risk. Laws in more and more states, starting with California, require organizations to publicly announce when data is missing and personal information like social security numbers and financial information is jeopardized. With each passing day, more legal mandates are established to protect sensitive digital data. The legal liability for your organization’s lost data is real—and your responsibility to protect against that liability is also real.

This presentation will discuss today’s options for deploying data encryption on the network; and what, why, where and how to encrypt backup data.

In this technical tutorial, the audience will learn:

• Today’s encryption solutions that encrypt data across its lifecycle, conforming to today’s legal requirements
• Problems specific to encrypting data saved for longer-term storage as data is kept longer to meet Sarbanes Oxley and other regulations
• Network scenarios and encryption best practices

2:30pm-3:00pm - Break

3:00pm-4:00pm
Testing and Training:  Making sure that your DR /BCP plan does not fail, and changes with your organization
Matthew J. Wenzler, Product Manager, Secure-24, Inc.

Hope is not a solution.  Having a plan in place that incorporates both IT and the critical human assets in your organization is a necessity. Making sure that your plan is current, that your personnel are trained, and that you periodically test your solution are tied directly to your survivability. 

In this timely discussion, attendees will review:

• How and when to test their plan

• How to make sure business and IT are on the same page

• How to ensure that your plan continually changes to meet changing business needs

• How to understand the roles of each IT/DR professional

• How to support your personnel and their family during a disaster scenario. 

4:00pm-5:00pm
Tips for Refining Your Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Plan
Moderator: Anthony Hopp, President, EOS Business Services
Raymond Parpart, Chief Architect, Electro-Motive Diesels
Bruce Waid, Director, MIS, Nation Pizza Products
Marcos Archilla, Director of Technical Operations, Catholic Charities
Tim Endisch, IT Consultant, Former MIS Operations Director, Harnischfeger Corporation (d.b.a. P&H Mining Equipment)

Enterprise IT professionals will share their insights as to how they have refined their DR/BC plan in the wake of economic changes, government legislation and concerns over future potential disasters. 

You will learn how to modify your current DR/BC plan taking into account 

• Challenges with data security & privacy
• Data archiving
• Improvement to existing IT infrastructure
• Planning and forecasting for potential future disasters
• How to work with non-IT departments to achieve resilience