Compliance Newsflashes: Eze Castle Integration Unleashes vSite Disaster Recovery Service, and more stories

Eze Castle Integration, a Boston-based technology provider to the financial services industry, has announced the public availability of vSite, its Internet-based disaster recovery service for hedge funds and traditional investment managers. VSite (Virtual Site) provides hedge funds and other investment managers with remote access to firmwide critical data in the instance of any business-impacting disaster or breach. Authorized employees of vSite client firms can access all replicated data from any secure Internet connection anywhere in the world. In addition to off-site data storage and Internet-based connectivity to that data, Eze Castle Integration's vSite solution provides round-the-clock hardware monitoring, business continuity planning, weekly data comparison, remote access testing, on-site colocation inspection and weekly software updates, according to the vendor.

"Eze Castle Integration's vSite solution lets me rest easier knowing that my firm's critical data is not only being stored off-site in case of an emergency, but is being monitored and cared for by the people who understand my IT infrastructure -- and my business -- better than anyone else except for my staff," said Steve Siderow, chief operating officer, BlueMountain Capital Management, in the press release.

--PricewaterhouseCoopers and Sun Microsystems Partner on Identity Management Solution for SOX Compliance

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Sun Microsystems have partnered on a joint solution to help companies leverage identity management to sustain Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, improve security and increase process efficiencies. Companies that use Sun's Java System Identity Management Suite also will gain access to PricewaterhouseCoopers' regulatory compliance and business risk management experience. The Sun Java System Identity Management Suite allows secure control over access and use of information systems and provides key components, such as user provisioning/deprovisioning, access management, password management, account management, directory management, and robust auditing and reporting. Companies choosing to implement the joint solution will gain assistance from PwC through workflow processes that help support segregation of duties. Together, PwC and Sun will assist companies with the deployment of the Sun Java System Identity Management Suite or components of the suite. "Identity management products and services are one part of a solution capable of providing enterprisewide user access controls and provisioning, which can strengthen an organization's internal controls process," said Earl Perkins, a vice president of security and risk strategies with META Group, in the press release. "Automating such steps as user de-provisioning through identity management is definitely a step in the right direction for both adhering to compliance and streamlining the environment."

-- TowerGroup Report Analyzes Role of IT in SEC's Move to Become a More Proactive and Effective Regulatory Body

As the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) works to remake itself as a more proactive, efficient and effective regulatory body, new research from TowerGroup argues that information technology will play a critical role in the transformation. "After being starved of funds and leadership for many years, the SEC's IT department has a new CIO at the helm and several significant new projects already underway," said Dushyant Shahrawat, senior analyst in the securities and capital markets practice at TowerGroup and author of the research, in the press release. "The SEC's IT budget for 2005 is $113 million, over 2.5 times its level in 2002." Shahrawat noted that in the context of this unprecedented change -- and the fact that IT now accounts for 13 percent of the total SEC budget -- the new CIO's challenge will be to create the functional controls, infrastructure and managerial culture required to manage this fast-growing scale of technology resources. "In the short-term, we believe that for each additional budget dollar that the SEC spends on internal IT efforts, the industry will spend $5 to ensure better compliance amidst a stricter regulatory environment," he said in a statement. "Smarter firms should regard the SEC's transformation as an opportunity to rethink and streamline their own compliance operations and supporting IT architecture." For more information on the new TowerGroup research report titled "Winds of Change at the SEC: Analysis and Implications for the US Securities Industry," call (781) 292-5200 or email [email protected].