INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO East 2007, taking place next month in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, will contain a series of educational sessions designed to help businesses maintain business continuity when natural disasters, or other disruptive forces, strike their area.

The conference will be held January 23-26, 2007 at the Ft. Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

According to TMC President and ITEXPO Conference Chairman, Rich Tehrani, while the threat of disruption from hurricanes, and other natural disasters, is a major consideration for businesses in Florida and other Gulf states, businesses worldwide must be prepared for unforeseen events, including pandemics, that can potentially cripple their respective operations.

“Hurricane Katrina last year, and the September 11th terrorist attacks before that, have heightened awareness as to the threat of long-term business disruption. When disaster hits, quick restoration of effective communications systems can help a company save their essential sales and customer service functions from collapsing, while protecting their critical revenue streams,” explained Tehrani.

“In addition, in response to potential disasters, many organizations have assembled teams of ‘Teleworkers’, or home-based employees. As this type of workforce is distributed across the country – and the world – disruption in one geographic region will potentially have less of a negative impact on the organization as a whole. The Telework Coalition conference tracks at ITEXPO will educate enterprises – particularly contact centers – on how to build and manage an effective Telework Force,” added Tehrani.

Sessions and workshops helping companies seamlessly maintain their operations during major disruptions include:

VoIP Options: Disaster Preparedness - Are You Ready?

Wednesday, January 24

Hurricanes. Tornados. Earthquakes. Volcanoes. Snowstorms. Vandalism. An errant backhoe. A fire in a neighboring business. Business disruptions caused by these events can be very problematic when it comes to getting a business back up and running. This special panel discussion will focus on what you, as an owner or operations manager of an enterprise, need to know in order to prepare for the inevitable service disruption due to forces beyond your control, and what you need to do to keep your lights on, keep your phones operational, and keep your business connected. Experts will answer questions from the audience, helping you learn what you need to know to effectively prepare for the day disaster strikes.

Disaster Preparedness Workshop

Thursday, January 25

The Disaster Preparedness Workshop is designed to help businesses create a safe, solid, and relatively easy-to-implement solution to ensure continuity of business in the case of a disaster of any size. Co-sponsored by the Enterprise Communications Association, this workshop will focus on the use of converged IP Solutions to seamlessly transfer vital functions and back up critical data, preventing loss and minimizing downtime during a business interruption of any nature.

Telework Coalition Workshop

This two-day workshop--held as part of the TMC’s co-located Call Center 2.0 Conference--covers all the elements of deploying and managing a team of ‘Home Agents’. Learn about the VoIP technology custom tailored to work-at-home environments, as well as hiring, training and other HR considerations.

According to TMC, total attendance at last year's ITEXPO in Ft. Lauderdale topped 6,000 attendees. TMC officials project attendance to exceed 7,000 at this year’s event.

Complete details about all sessions and workshops at the conference are posted at www.itexpo.com. Registration for the show is now open. Anyone interested may register by visiting http://www.itexpo.com. Very limited booth space remains as well. Vendors interested in exhibiting at the show should contact Dave Rodriguez right away at 203-852-6800, ext. 146. Or via e-mail at drodriguez@tmcnet.com.

Press inquiries regarding INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO East 2007 can be directed to Mostafa Razzak of 23-31 Communications: 646-442-3360 or m.razzak@23-31.com.

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