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Canadian MedicAlert® Foundation Selects Q9 to Safeguard Web Site and Protect Medical Records of More Than One Million Members
Toronto, ON - May 3, 2006 - Q9 Networks Inc. (TSX:Q), a leading provider of outsourced Internet infrastructure and related managed services, is pleased to announce it has been selected by the Canadian MedicAlert Foundation to provide disaster recovery services for the foundation's Web site and the medical records of its more than one million Canadian members.
MedicAlert® is the leading provider of emergency medical information services linked to customized bracelets and necklets for Canadians with medical conditions and special medical needs. MedicAlert ensures immediate 24x7 access by emergency responders and health professionals to a member's medical records.
To ensure uninterrupted availability of the organization's Web site and access to member medical records in the event of a disaster, MedicAlert is co-locating its fail-over Web site and database within the secure confines of a Q9 data centre. Under the terms of the agreement, Q9 is providing physical space, guaranteed power and managed bandwidth services.
"With lives potentially at stake, having our members' data available at all times is absolutely critical," says Michael Shreve, Director, Systems and Supply Chain, MedicAlert. "Maintaining our internal facilities at a level of fault-tolerance to withstand any eventuality would be cost prohibitive. With Q9, we get the benefit of world-class data centre facilities at a fraction of what it would cost to build ourselves. We selected Q9 based not just on their guaranteed reliability, but also because of their comprehensive security, which is just as important given the confidential nature of our members' data."
Q9 delivers unparalleled service through an extensive suite of customer care products, including a Web-based portal that provides complete visibility into customer equipment and Q9 services. All Q9 and customer systems are monitored from a Q9 Network Operations Centre (NOC) 24 hours a day, seven days a week. NOC experts are also available to customers on an around-the-clock basis to resolve issues and provide advice.
"We are delighted to be providing MedicAlert with the infrastructure services it needs to protect the health and privacy of its members," says Osama Arafat, CEO, Q9 Networks. "With the demands for reliable computing infrastructure growing, organizations of all sizes are turning to Q9 in an effort to manage costs and complexity while meeting organizational and legislative requirements for risk management."
About MedicAlert
Canadian MedicAlert® Foundation is the leading provider of emergency medical information services in Canada. MedicAlert was established in 1961 as a national, member-based charity. Today, more than one million Canadians trust MedicAlert to speak for them when they can't speak for themselves. The Canadian MedicAlert Foundation is endorsed by CAEP (Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians) and NENA (National Emergency Nurses' Affiliation), and works in partnership with a Canada-wide network of health organizations, hospitals, pharmacies, doctors' offices, clinics, and health centres.
About Q9 Networks
Q9 Networks is a leading Canadian provider of outsourced Internet infrastructure and related managed services.
Q9's data centres and network are backed by an industry leading SLA which guarantees 100 per cent network and power availability.
Q9 managed services, including: bandwidth, dedicated servers, firewalls, load balancing, virtual private networking (VPN) and
back-up/restore, enable the rapid provisioning and scalability of client infrastructure.
For further information, please contact:
Kevin Spikes
Director of Corporate & Investor Relations
Q9 Networks Inc.
Toronto: 416-848-3311
Toll Free: 1-888-696-2266
media.relations@Q9.com
Mario Longo
Senior Communications Manager
MedicAlert
1-800-668-1507 x1114
mlongo@medicalert.ca
www.medicalert.ca
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