The 2007 Site Uptime Network^® Call for New Members

The Uptime Institute (the Institute) is now accepting applications from new members for participation in one of the five 2007Site Uptime Network® groups. Companies participating include A.G. Edwards, ADP, AIG, Allstate, American Express, AOL, AT&T Southeast Region, Bank of America, Bank of Montreal, Barclays Capital, Bayer Corporation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, The Boeing Company, BP, Capital Group, Caterpillar, Chevron, Cincinnati Bell Technology Solutions, Cincinnati Insurance, Cisco Systems, Inc., Citigroup, Colgate-Palmolive, Consonus, Deere & Company, Department of Veteran Affairs, Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., Discover Financial, DST Systems, eBay, Inc., EVERTEC, ExxonMobil, FannieMae, Fidelity Investments, GE, GMAC-RFC, GTECH, Hewitt Associates, Hewlett-Packard, Highmark, HSBC, Iron Mountain, JC Penney, Johnson & Johnson, Kaiser-Permanente, Lehman Brothers, LexisNexis, Lockheed Martin, Lowe's Companies, Inc., MasterCard, Mayo Clinic, Microsoft, The MITRE Corporation, Morgan Stanley, Nationwide, Northwest Airlines, Office Depot, Pfizer, Inc., Philadelphia Stock Exchange, The Planet Internet Services, Progressive Insurance, Rackspace Managed Hosting, RBC Financial Group, Rogers Communications, Sabey Corporation, Savvis Communication, Securities Industry Automation Corp., Shell IT International, Social Security Administration, State Farm, Target, TD Bank, Telus, Toyota, Thomson, United Airlines, United Parcel Service, UnitedHealthcare, US Bancorp, USAA Insurance, Verizon Communications, Verizon Wireless, Visa, Wachovia Bank, Washington Mutual Bank, Wells Fargo Bank

Network Overview
The company-wide cost of an information outage caused by just a single infrastructure failure can sometimes exceed the annual budget for infrastructure operation. While representing less than 4% of all outage events, infrastructure failures currently account for 25% or more of all outage downtime. In comparison with accelerating advances in computer technology, infrastructure design and operation lag far behind, and the gap is widening.

The Institute's Site Uptime Network maintains a database of information submitted by group participants. Benchmark information includes

• Abnormal incident reports, historical data on similar incidents at other facilities, and incident trends by equipment manufacturer
• Facility site infrastructure profiles of each participating company, including uptime objectives, data center size and characteristics, infrastructure equipment installed, methods of operation (in-house staff or contracted services), organizational reporting relationships, staffing coverage
• Comparative data center operating cost data by square feet and by kW of UPS load
• Data center Facilities salary range comparisons
• Data center Preventive Maintenance frequencies
• Data center Physical Security practices
• Data center Facilities Training practices
• Best practices for assuring infrastructure uptime performance.
  

Network Benefits
By providing a structured and regular forum for participating companies to share ideas, concerns, and problems, the Site Uptime Network facilitates the transfer of important information. The synergy of shared data and the statistical analysis of trends across multiple facilities provides an early warning for problems that would not have been obvious to a single site operating in isolation.

Clear Correlation: Increased Uptime with Network Membership Tenure
The 2006 Abnormal Incident trending report demonstrated clearly that companies who have belonged to the Network for four years or more have collectively seen their number of data center facilities failures (outages) reduced by at least half since the year they joined. This trending information was drawn from more than 3,500 reported incidents collected since 1995.

Cost Savings
One member reported that they were able to save over $80,000 in 2003 on an equipment purchase, because they validated through an e-mail query to other members that the type of equipment they were considering would provide the level of reliability they required. The equipment had been offered to them at a discount because another customer had returned it unused. This case illustrates how the ability to benchmark with industry peers can save a company several times the cost of participating in the group.

Customer Focus
The Network staff delivers superior conference experiences, as evidenced by evaluation ratings recorded by members each year. On a scale of 1 to 4 ( 2 = "met most expectations"), the overall conference evaluation rating has consistently been over 3 since 1997. Any specific session rating of 1 is immediately followed up with a phone call and an action taken. Our staff has consistently solved unexpected challenges seamlessly. An example occurred at the fall 2002 conference when flash floods prevented scheduled buses from arriving to take attendees to data center tours. We found and contracted an alternate bus company the morning of the data center tours and still delivered attendees to their tours mid-morning as scheduled.

Network Reports and Conferences
In addition to urgent FLASH alerts, special benchmarking studies, and quarterly Network reports, The Institute hosts two three-day Network conferences annually. The base membership fee entitles each participating company to have up to three representatives attend conferences. conferences are hosted by member companies and are organized to encourage in-depth discussion among participants. Each conference includes a comprehensive site tour with detailed observations on the site's strengths and weaknesses identified by participants, breakout sessions for both management issues and technology issues, reviews of recent abnormal incidents, a review of best practices, and updates on new technologies and facilities projects at member sites.

Requirements for Project Participation
Companies participating in the Network must execute an Information Exchange Agreement to protect the confidentiality of the data collected and shared. To foster an atmosphere of cooperation and interaction, participation will be limited to a maximum of seventeen member companies per Network group. Only participating companies will have access to all Network results. Existing members will have the opportunity to review the description of any company wishing to join and raise potential concerns for discussion before a new company is accepted.

One annual $12,000 fee permits up to three representatives and three sites from each member company to participate in Network projects. Additional attendees and sites are permitted at a nominal additional fee.

For additional information please contact the Site Uptime Network, The Uptime Institute, 2904 Rodeo Park Drive East, Santa Fe, NM 87505, Tel: (505) 986.3900, Fax: (505) 982.8484.