Mi8 Corporation Fends Off Blackout, Blaster Threats to Keep Email Flowing for Clients

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 18, 2003--Mi8 Corporation, a provider of Microsoft Exchange-based email and collaboration services for businesses, today confirmed that its operations experienced no interruptions due to the widespread Blaster virus or the power outage in the Northeast U.S.

"Our operations have continued without a single second of downtime due to the Blaster worm or the blackout," said Huw Thomas, president and CEO of Mi8. "We understand that email is a mission critical system for businesses, so we designed our systems for maximum reliability. We also spend a great deal of time planning for emergencies and practicing the implementation of these plans. This preparation paid off for our customers this week."

BizVantage – Personalized business, investment or technology Intelligence: the ultimate advantage.
Try the free, no-hassle, 6 month trial!

Mi8 provides Microsoft Exchange Server, the world's most popular email and collaboration system for businesses, as a network-based service and as a managed on-site deployment, offloading IT departments and allowing companies to focus their resources on core business functions. Mi8's services are backed by a Service Level Agreement that guarantees 99.9% reliability; that roughly translates to only 10 minutes of downtime per week.

The "MSblast" or "Blaster" worm surfaced on Monday, August 11, and propagated rapidly across Microsoft Windows-based systems over the ensuing 7 days. Estimates on the number of infected computers range from one hundred thousand to over one million. Mi8's Thomas said, "Our standard practice of monitoring all security threats, and testing and applying appropriate security patches prior to a problem being widely exposed, has once again proven its worth during a crisis. No Mi8 systems were infected with the virus, nor did we pass along the virus to any of our clients."

The power blackout affected over 50 million people in the U.S. and Canada, ranging from New York City north to Ottawa and west to Detroit. Mi8's systems are based in an AT&T data center facility in the New York City metro area; this facility has both UPS (uninterruptible power supplies) and diesel generators to provide backup power, with enough diesel fuel to last several weeks. "Our systems never noticed the blackout, and neither did most of our customers - at least not by looking at their emails," said Thomas.

About Mi8

Headquartered in New York City, Mi8 is the premier outsourcer of Microsoft Exchange application services, enabling organizations to reduce costs, accelerate deployments, and focus on core business activities. Mi8 leverages high performance Internet and wireless technologies to deliver these application services to any device, any time, anywhere. Mi8 has partnered with EDS to deliver these services to Global 2000 enterprises, combining Mi8's Exchange expertise with EDS's history of professional services and project management. With major offices in New York City, London, Paris and Munich, Mi8 supports thousands of subscribers worldwide, including Cornell University, Davis Brody Bond, the IAAF, Oxygen Media, and Safety-Kleen. More information is available at www.mi8.com.