TAMPA, Fla.--June 1, 2006--The Disaster Recovery and Data Protection Summit, wrapped up today in Tampa, FL, where approximately 200 business and IT professionals gathered to hear an impressive list of speakers and to learn more about the techniques and technologies of business continuity and disaster recovery planning. The educational event, which was free to businesses interested in developing continuity strategies, featured keynote speakers from survivors of last year's severe hurricane season, including Baptist Memorial Health Care, DataCore Software, law firm Ruden McClosky, the National Football League and the New Orleans Saints franchise, as well as Delray, Florida-based Office Depot.

Keynoting the first day of the event wer Michael Palmer, NFL Director of IT Infrastructure and Communications, and Jay Romig, IT Manager for the New Orleans Saints, who together picked up the pieces of the New Orleans NFL franchise's business operations after last year's assault by Hurricane Katrina.

Following the kickoff, Dan Noah, Warning Meterologist for the National Weather Service delivered a multi-media tour-de-force covering the challenges of weather prediction and outlining the risks posed by severe weather. Hal Weiss, a System Engineer with Baptist Memorial Health Care, and Bettye H. Grant, Vice President of Operations for Ft. Lauderdale, FL-based DataCore Software, then discussed their disaster recovery strategies and experiences following the 2005 storms and other calamities that impacted their operations.

On Day 2, delegates heard about new technologies with huge implications for recoverability of post-disaster operations. Ryan Malone, from Zetera Corporation, discussed Storage over IP and its promise to provide an affordable data protection infrastructure. Malone was followed by Ben Weinberger, IT Manager for the Ft. Lauderdale, FL-based law firm, Ruden McClosky, who addressed the key components of his high availability/business continuity strategy. Sponsor panels and a presentation on techniques for protecting the people assets of a company, delivered by Tom Serio, Global Business Continuity Director for Delray, FL-based Office Depot, filled out the balance of the morning plenary sessions.

Each afternoon, delegates were presented a formal training program developed by the Data Management Institute, a co-host of the event, and nearly 100 received a Certified Data Protection Specialist certification from DMI at the completion of training on Day 2.

The Summit was organized by three Tampa Bay, FL companies: the Data Management Institute, Toigo Partners International, and TPI Technologies. It received tremendous sponsorship from leading IT vendors, from vendors of business continuity and data protection products and services, and from local providers of business computing solutions: 24 in all. This support enabled the program to be delivered without charge.

Feedback has been very positive from both delegates and from sponsors, encouraging DMI, TPI Technologies and Toigo Partners to begin planning for the next Summit, this time in the Palm Beach area.