SunGard Launches New Version of Paragon Software to Help Organizations Improve Information Availability

WAYNE, Pa., Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- SunGard Availability Services today launched a new version of its Paragon software which expands the information availability planning and management tools organizations can utilize to help them ensure uninterrupted access to their business data and systems. The software raises the bar in helping organizations manage their overall information availability program by making it easier to link business continuity and disaster recovery plans with specific business strategies, and expanding options available in managing real-time manpower deployments and communications during disruptions.

"An information availability program is only effective if it reflects today's business and technology environments," said Ann Pickren, senior vice president, Software Products Group at SunGard Availability Services. "This new version of Paragon adds tools to keep up with organizational and infrastructure changes so plans are always current. It leverages SunGard's intellectual capital generated from writing thousands of business continuity plans and running over 100,000 tests."

    The new capabilities advance each SunGard Paragon component including:

    -- Profiles, which provides a "living whiteboard" to profile an
       organization's infrastructure, environment and interdependencies, can
       now be printed and stored -- in addition to being viewed.  This
       capability enables companies to take a snapshot of an infrastructure
       area and examine the impact should a disruption occur.  For example, an
       organization could look at how people, business functions and
       facilities would be affected if a specific server was disrupted.
    -- Impacts, which allows organizations to conduct a business impact
       analysis of a potential disruption, provides the ability to create
       surveys, which now can feed results directly to any item in an
       availability plan.  For instance, companies could assess and record how
       potential system disruptions may affect a business process such as
       Sarbanes-Oxley compliance procedures.
    -- Plans, which enables organizations to create information availability
       plans, includes a series of new report templates to help users produce
       graphical analysis and metrics on program progress and readiness.  The
       reporting capability provides security safeguards to control
       information access down to the individual person and report levels.
    -- Situations, which tracks availability plans in real time, allows
       incident managers to swap individual team members in and out of an
       incident as shifts change or responsibilities are reassigned.  In
       addition to the existing e-mail messaging, organizations can now use
       text-to-speech notifications to individuals and teams when assignments
       are due or completed.
    -- Notifications, which enables organizations to launch communication
       directly from any plan or crisis management screen, now support
       messages delivered via personal voice recordings in addition to
       automated text-to-speech.  The notifications engine embedded in Paragon
       can be used independently of Paragon screens for communications not
       directly connected to availability planning and response.

"Too many organizations find their availability program is still hamstrung by planning that is based on word processing documents or -- worse yet -- manual processes littered with 'Post-it' notes scattered around a facility and critical information locked in the heads of a handful of employees. Paragon helps organizations manage their information availability programs in a single application with a centralized database so they can have actionable recovery strategies that are easy to keep current and accessible during a disruption," said Ms. Pickren.

About SunGard Availability Services

SunGard Availability Services is the pioneer and leading provider of information availability solutions, helping to ensure that more than 10,000 customers in North America and Europe have access to their business-critical information systems. With nearly four million square feet of secure facilities, 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. For more information about SunGard Availability Services, visit 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.

Trademark Information: SunGard and the SunGard logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.