LONDON, UK, May 17, 2005 -- Almost a third of firms (28%) have no formal plans to protect them against disasters caused by terrorism, natural disasters or systems failures, according to a new survey and report on business continuity planning from AT&T and Cisco Systems in co-operation with the Economist Intelligence Unit. This is despite the fact that 28% of firms in the survey admitted they have already experienced a full shutdown of key business operations as a result of a disaster in the past.

The survey, which was conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, asked 240 senior executives worldwide to comment on their firms' capabilities in business continuity planning. The research report defines business continuity planning as strategies and processes which enable firms to survive incidents and threats such as electronic security breaches, natural disasters or terrorism.

The research reveals that many firms are sceptical about their ability to manage threats to their most valuable assets. Less than half of the survey participants are confident that their organisation is able to fully protect their business from threats to digital assets (for example IT systems and data) and general infrastructure. Only 48% are confident they can ensure the safety of their employees in the event of a disaster.

US firms are most likely to have business continuity plans in place, according to the survey. However, even those firms that do have a business continuity plan often fail to test them with sufficient regularity: less than half of companies surveyed had tested their plan in the past 12 months.

"This report should serve as a wake up call to business" says Bill Archer, president of AT&T's operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "As business becomes ever more network intensive with IT systems increasingly the central nervous system of the corporation, the risks of even a minor disruption having a huge impact across the business and throughout the supply chain gets even greater. It's vital that every enterprise has in place a reliable, robust and scalable business continuity plan; increased regulatory exposure and financial accountability demands that this is not a topic senior executives can afford to ignore. With threats as diverse as cyber attacks through to climate changes all adding multiple layers of complexity there is an imperative to have in place the preparation to prepare for the unexpected".

The report, which includes interviews and case studies on best practice in business continuity planning as well as a full analysis of the survey results, suggests that many firms believe business continuity is important. However, most firms have made slow progress in putting adequate measures in place to safeguard their firms against a wide range of threats. The report concludes that firms will come under increasing pressure from shareholders, regulators and insurers to demonstrate more robust business continuity plans in the near future.

"These survey results show that there is much effort required before companies can feel confident they have done all they can to identify and put in place the measures needed to secure their people, their offices, and their intellectual property," says Robert Lloyd, President of Operations in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, Cisco Systems. "The need for cross- functional collaboration between IT and all other areas of the business is greater than ever and that is why Cisco is working with partners such as AT&T to bring about a multi-layered approach to business continuity. As regulatory and commercial pressures increase on companies to optimise the availability, resilience and security of their networks, the "Self Defending Network", with layers of defence throughout the IT infrastructure, is a principle that is now considered essential to a company's long-term survival"

Free copies of the EIU research white paper "Business Continuity - Riding the Storm" can be downloaded from the AT&T website at: http://www.att.com/businesscontinuity

Survey & Research Methodology:

As part of the research for the paper, the Economist Intelligence Unit conducted an online worldwide survey of 240 executives. The largest proportion of respondents came from the US, followed by India and the UK. The top five industry sectors represented by the survey respondents were financial services, IT and technology, manufacturing, healthcare and professional services. In addition to the survey research, the EIU conducted a series of one-to-one in-depth interviews with senior executives and analysts. All of the survey research took place in March and April 2005.

About The Economist Intelligence Unit

The Economist Intelligence Unit (http://www.eiu.com) is the business information arm of The Economist Group, publisher of The Economist. Through its global network of over 500 analysts, the Economist Intelligence Unit continuously assesses and forecasts political, economic and business conditions in nearly 200 countries. As the world's leading provider of country intelligence, the Economist Intelligence Unit helps executives make better business decisions by providing timely, reliable and impartial analysis on worldwide market trends and business strategies.

About AT&T

For more than 125 years, AT&T (NYSE "T") (http://www.att.com) has been known for unparalleled quality and reliability in communications. Backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, the company is a global leader in local, long distance, Internet and transaction-based voice and data services.