Mark Hughes to Highlight Best Practices for Information Availability Planning

SunGard Availability Services today announced Mark Hughes, executive vice president of operations for the company, has been selected to present the Industry Keynote speech at the CIO/CSO Business Continuity Forum on July 17, 2007 at the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, N.Y.

Mr. Hughes will present a session on “Information Availability: Keeping Data, People and Processes Connected” on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. His speech will focus on best practices for information availability planning, highlighting why it is essential to maximize availability of networks, data, systems and applications for continuity of business operations and customer service. Drawing upon real world scenarios, he will discuss why executive management, beyond the IT department, should be involved in developing business continuity plans, and what the key considerations should be-specifically data, systems, people, and locations-when planning for disasters.

“The world has become more complex and business continuity depends on more than simply protecting critical company information. Today executive leadership must understand that their people, processes, and systems are critical parts of an integrated information availability solution and are key components of proper planning. It is leadership that must provide central, strategic guidance for their staff, so they know how to operate in a time of crisis,” said Mr. Hughes. “I look forward to sharing my real-world experiences, and ultimately to helping attendees learn how to plan beyond day to day operations, and to understand all of the mission-critical components necessary to helping ensure seamless information availability in the time of an interruption or disaster.”

Mr. Hughes is responsible for managing SunGard Availability Services’ extensive operational capabilities. He joined SunGard in January 2005. Mr. Hughes also had a 24-year career in the U.S. Air Force, from which he retired as a Colonel.

About CIO/CSO Business Continuity Forum

The CIO/CSO Business Continuity Forum is designed to address the key strategic and tactical issues that CIOs, CSOs, CTOs and other business technology executives must engage when building and maintaining the operational integrity, availability and resiliency of their organizations. The forum content is organized around three key pillars of resiliency structure: build, deploy and manage. Attendees are provided with the strategic skills necessary to address the issues of continuity, recovery and resiliency in their enterprises, and knowledge around key technologies that will enable enterprise resiliency.

About SunGard Availability Services

SunGard Availability Services is the pioneer and leading provider of information availability solutions, helping to ensure that nearly 10,000 customers in North America and Europe have access to their business-critical information systems. With over 3 million square feet of operations space, SunGard offers a complete range of information availability solutions that include managed IT, professional and business continuity services. SunGard provides services to support an always-on production environment, as well as over 30 technology platforms to support customers who require a traditional 24-48 hour recovery time frame. SunGard also has technology and systems management services for application and data center outsourcing, as well as business continuity consulting services and planning software.

Visit at  www.availability.sungard.com or call 1-800-523-4970.

About SunGard

With annual revenue exceeding $4 billion, SunGard is a global leader in software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector. SunGard also helps information-dependent enterprises of all types to ensure the continuity of their business. SunGard serves more than 25,000 customers in more than 50 countries, including the world’s 50 largest financial services companies. Visit SunGard at www.sungard.com.