S'pore vies to be a recovery center
S'pore vies to be a recovery center
Agence France-Presse, Singapore
Singapore wants multinational corporations to use it as a base
to back up their data and communications systems in the event of
a terrorist attack elsewhere, a government minister said
Thursday.
Staff critical to a company's operation would also be given a
place to work under the plan, Trade and Industry Minister George
Yeo said at the opening of Indian software company Satyam's (SAY)
disaster recovery center.
"The threat of war and terrorism has increased the
vulnerability of information and business systems all over the
world," Yeo said. "Singapore is well-positioned to provide
disaster recovery and business continuity services because of its
excellent connectivity to all the major economic centers of the
world."
Already, companies like IBM, Citibank, Polaris, BNP Paribas,
NCS Pearson and Hewlett Packard Co. have established disaster
recovery operations in the wealthy island nation, Yeo said.
He said analysts were forecasting the Asia-Pacific market for
such services was expected to be worth more than US$1.3 billion
by 2006, growing more than 20 percent a year.
As further incentive, Singapore has developed a new work
permit for disaster recovery staff to enter the country and
quickly begin work.
Singapore has been commended by the U.S. and others for its
efforts to reduce the risks of a terrorist attack. The government
has arrested 32 suspected terrorists since Dec. 2001 and shut
down four cells belonging to Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida linked
group that has been blamed for bombings that killed more than 200
people on the Indonesian island of Bali.
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks brought many Wall Street firms
to a halt for nearly a week.
Although many have taken steps to prevent their operations
from shutting down again, the U.S. government's General
Accounting Office issued a report earlier this month saying that
banks, brokerage firms, exchanges and clearing firms must improve
their disaster recovery planning.