OREANDA-NEWS. As tornado and hurricane season approaches, AT&T* is ready for the possible challenges it brings. The company is the first, and only, telecom to be certified under the new international Business Continuity Management standard (ISO 22301) for the Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness Program (PS-Prep™).

PS-PrepTM is a partnership between the Department of Homeland Security and the private sector that lets private businesses to demonstrate their capabilities for planning for, responding to, and recovering from disasters and other emergencies.  AT&T received its original certification for PS-Prep in 2012. The new ISO standard is the logical successor to the previous standard and the accepted Business Continuity Management standard worldwide.

This PS-PrepTM re-certification shows that AT&T continues to be equipped to resume business operations and continue delivering services to its customers in the vital hours and days after a disaster strikes. In the event of any disaster or other emergency, AT&T can quickly resume network traffic, field customer calls and queries, and service the communities in which it operates.

"Our customers rely on us for 24x7 connectivity especially during times of natural disasters where we provide a critical lifeline. So we’re proud to be the first telecom to secure re-certification under the new ISO standard," said John Donovan, Senior Executive Vice President — AT&T Technology and Operations. "This recognition demonstrates once again that our business continuity program, coupled with our technology recovery team, is best in class."

AT&T’s Network Disaster Recovery (NDR) team spent more than 130,000 hours preparing for disasters since 1992. AT&T invested more than \$600 million in its NDR program since its inception which includes our dedicated recovery fleet nearly 320 trailers and support vehicles. AT&T deployed recovery equipment to affected areas more than 70 times – including for Hurricanes Sandy in 2012 and Irene in 2011. On September 11, 2001, the NDR team also deployed on September 11, 2001, following the New York City World Trade Center disaster – recovering the services of a destroyed network office and providing emergency communications support for humanitarian efforts.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.