C Spire has bolstered its network resources and mobilized employees in case it needs to respond to Hurricane Michael, which is expected to make landfall along the Florida Panhandle this afternoon as the season’s first Category 4 hurricane.

Michael made landfall near Panama City with winds up to 120 mph, storm surge of 9 to 13 feet and rain accumulations of 4 to 8 inches. Mandatory evacuations have been issued and a state of emergency has been declared for 35 Florida coastal counties, four Alabama counties and 92 counties in Georgia in the storm’s path.

C Spire readies its extensive wireless and wireline networks and workforce for a wide range of potential disasters, including major weather events such as hurricanes. The company routinely reviews and updates its emergency preparedness plans and conducts drills throughout the year to test the readiness of its network and employees.

There are multiple paths organizations can take to develop a culture of network security – some more difficult than others. Which will you choose?

C Spire recently completed a major technology upgrade of Mississippi Optical Network (MissiON) – the state’s science and technology research and development consortium of nine state universities, NASA's Stennis Space Center, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers ERDC, and more. The upgrade tripled capacity, cut overall costs, and expanded the size of the network.

Criminal hackers aren’t nearly as focused on your business' administrative accounts as they are individual employee accounts. Why? Because admin accounts rarely have direct access to highly valuable information like social security numbers, protected health information, etc.

A recent global study by the Ponemon Institute finds that the financial damage caused by a data breach has risen by 6.4 percent in the last year and now costs companies an average of $3.86 million each.

Is your IT infrastructure at a crossroads? With more scalability, control, and lower costs topping your list of priorities, you know the best solution is likely in the cloud - but which one? The roadmap you've been given to navigate the many cloud options isn't clear or seems risky.