IBM today announced that MSI Systems Integrators, an IBM Premier Business Partner, was awarded the Business Solutions' Total Solution Provider award for "Best Disaster Recovery Solution"

[STORAGE WORLD CONFERENCE - Anaheim, Calif. - May 7, 2003] - IBM today announced that MSI Systems Integrators, an IBM Premier Business Partner, was awarded the Business Solutions' Total Solution Provider award for "Best Disaster Recovery Solution" for Hormel Foods, the multinational manufacturer and marketer of consumer-branded meat and food products.

Hormel Foods, the Austin, Minnesota-based company behind such well-known brands as SPAM and Hormel chili, sought the services of MSI to configure and deploy a comprehensive disaster recovery and business continuance solution. Faced with rapidly escalating increases in business continuity insurance and assessing the potential impact a natural disaster could have on its operations, Hormel determined that a comprehensive disaster recovery solution would be needed to guard its enterprise data. Management at Hormel Foods decided to expedite the solution.

"The savings we will achieve in reduced continuity insurance premiums will quickly exceed the cost of the new system," said Rory Nichols, manager of support services for Hormel Foods. "In case of a natural disaster or other external disruption, we will be able to restore lost data and get the network back up and running within minutes, rather than days, minimizing potentially significant financial losses."

The solution, deployed and maintained by MSI, is comprised of an IBM Storage Enterprise Storage Server (code-named Shark), utilizing IBM's Point-to-point remote copy (PPRC) functionality. With the availability of Extended Remote Copy (XRC) Hormel Foods will be able to instantly copy information between its data center and a remote location when the need arises. For backup and recovery, Hormel uses an IBM 3494 Enterprise Tape Library that relies on IBM Tivoli Storage Manager to manage the backup and recovery process

"MSI's project team provided consultation in a broad range of specialties, including IBM storage architectures, mainframes, open systems servers, software and networking," said Joe Anderson, Director of Technology - Storage, MSI. "We relied on the advanced functionality of IBM technology to create a disaster recovery system that would be comprehensive, cost effective and enable Hormel Foods to be up and running within hours of a disaster that destroys or cripples the company's primary data center."

"Terrorism and hackers are the risks we often associate with a business continuance plan, but they aren't the only threat to a company's IT assets," said Ken Boyd, IBM Director of Disaster Recovery Solutions. "Customers like Hormel Foods are increasingly relying on IBM technology for the integrated computing infrastructures they require to support mission-critical, 24x7 data availability in the result of any disaster -- natural or otherwise."

About IBM

IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. Drawing on resources from across IBM and key Business Partners, IBM offers a wide range of services, solutions and technologies that enable customers, large and small, to take full advantage of the new era of e-business. For more information about IBM, visit http://www.ibm.com.

About Hormel Foods

Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minnesota, is a multinational manufacturer and marketer of consumer-branded food and meat products, many of which are among the best known and trusted in the food industry. The company leverages its extensive expertise, innovation and high competencies in pork and turkey processing and marketing to bring quality, value-added brands to the global marketplace. In both January 2001 and January 2002, Hormel Foods was named one of "The 400 Best Big Companies in America" by Forbes magazine. The company enjoys a strong reputation among consumers, retail grocers, foodservice and industrial customers for products highly regarded for quality, taste, nutrition, convenience and value.

About MSI Systems Integrators

MSI Systems Integrators helps companies make their businesses better by providing IT optimization, enterprise security, unified communications, business intelligence, business integration, business continuity, content management and open source solutions. A leading provider of hardware, software and services, MSI has deep technical skills and partners with technology leaders such as Symantec, HP, IBM, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, and VMware to provide world-class business solutions that help companies be more responsive, productive and resilient. MSI is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska with offices throughout the United States. For more information about MSI, please visit www.msiinet.com or call 800-640-4674, extension 2394.

For more information, press only:
Teresa Mardesen
MSI Systems Integrators
(800) 640-4674, x2394
tmardesen@msiinet.com

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