SGX sets up board of inquiry to probe power outage: DPM Tharman
The power outage caused a halt in the trading of securities and derivatives for more than three hours on Wednesday afternoon (Nov 5).
SINGAPORE: A board of inquiry has been set up by the Singapore Exchange (SGX) to investigate the power outage which caused a halt in the trading of securities and derivatives for more than three hours on Wednesday afternoon (Nov 5).
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam said this on the sidelines of a free health screening event in Jurong on Sunday. Mr Tharman said SGX has appointed independent experts to look into several matters, including power supply and recovery processes.
Preliminary investigations showed that SGX's backup power supply, also known as the Uninterruptible Power Supply, did not kick in. Mr Tharman said this is one area the board of inquiry will investigate.
"This is equipment that had been tested, has gone through disaster recovery exercises, but something failed. Not just with regard to the primary power supply, but the backup system. So they have to get to the bottom of that," he said.
The inquiry team will comprise four Board directors who are all independent of management. It will be chaired by Mr Quah Wee Ghee, the Chairman of SGX's Risk Management Committee. The other three members are Mr Chew Choon Seng, Mr Kevin Kwok and Mr Lee Hsien Yang. SGX is required to submit a preliminary investigation report to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) within two weeks of the Nov 5 incident.
Mr Tharman also said the board of inquiry will be looking into decision-making processes during a crisis. "Sometimes you need a setback like this to look at all your processes very thoroughly, because crises don't happen often, but you have got to have a tight system of SOPs so that you can make decisions quickly and understand the risks and make a judgment quickly in that circumstance."
Mr Tharman said Wednesday's incident "does not help" Singapore's reputation as a financial hub, even though similar incidents have occurred in financial centres overseas. "It doesn't matter what happens overseas. We've got to get it right here, and make sure our reputation is kept intact," he said.
He added that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will be monitoring investigations closely and will decide on any course of action at a later date.
Mr Tharman was speaking after touring the Community Health Day at SATA CommHealth Jurong East Medical Centre. Some 300 Jurong residents received free health screening on Sunday morning.
Those above the age of 50 had glaucoma and osteoporosis checks. In Singapore, glaucoma affects about 3 per cent of people aged over 50, and the risk increases with age. Given the ageing population, more people are expected to suffer from hip fractures.
During Sunday's event, participants also went for chest X-rays or had their blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol levels checked. SATA CommHealth provided these services as part of Community Health Day. This is the 12th time that Community Health Day is held in Singapore.
- CNA/nd/ir
- wong chee tat :)
Showing posts with label Disaster recovery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disaster recovery. Show all posts
Monday, November 10, 2014
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Singapore’s telecom networks resilient: IDA
Singapore’s telecom networks resilient: IDA
By Kimberly Spykerman
POSTED: 23 Oct 2013 18:28
The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) said there is resiliency in Singapore's telecommunication networks, with back-ups.
SINGAPORE: The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) said there is resiliency in Singapore's telecommunication networks, with back-ups.
Concerns were raised following a fire at SingTel's Bukit Panjang Exchange earlier this month, which crippled some essential services.
But IDA said even with network resiliency, incidents can happen due to human error or software malfunction.
IDA said its regulatory frameworks ensure operators invest in resiliency, especially for key services.
But it will review lessons learnt from the incident to see if certain areas can be further improved to enhance network resiliency -- for example, faster recovery procedures.
- CNA/nd
- wong chee tat :)
By Kimberly Spykerman
POSTED: 23 Oct 2013 18:28
The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) said there is resiliency in Singapore's telecommunication networks, with back-ups.
SINGAPORE: The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) said there is resiliency in Singapore's telecommunication networks, with back-ups.
Concerns were raised following a fire at SingTel's Bukit Panjang Exchange earlier this month, which crippled some essential services.
But IDA said even with network resiliency, incidents can happen due to human error or software malfunction.
IDA said its regulatory frameworks ensure operators invest in resiliency, especially for key services.
But it will review lessons learnt from the incident to see if certain areas can be further improved to enhance network resiliency -- for example, faster recovery procedures.
- CNA/nd
- wong chee tat :)
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
SingHealth reviews plans after illegal strike at SMRT
SingHealth reviews plans after illegal strike at SMRT
By Tan Weizhen, TODAY | Posted: 05 December 2012 0801 hrs
SINGAPORE: SingHealth, the country's largest public healthcare cluster, said it is reviewing its business contingency plans in the wake of the strike by SMRT's China bus drivers last week.
SingHealth, which oversees two hospitals - Singapore General Hospital and KK Women's and Children's Hospital - as well as five national specialty centres and nine polyclinics, is also undertaking "further risk assessments", its Deputy Group Director of Strategic Human Resources Goh Leong Huat said. SingHealth did not give details of what these assessments will entail.
SingHealth, which employs over 16,000 staff, did not respond to queries on how many foreign staff it has on its books. However, Mr Goh said that SingHealth employs foreign staff "based on calibrated assessment and balance of the need for trained healthcare workers".
Several other companies contacted were cagey when asked if they are reviewing their plans in the wake of the illegal strike.
Some said they have adopted measures to ensure they keep a low reliance on foreign manpower.
SingPost said it has a pool of temporary workers who can be activated when needed and it also encourages retirees and housewives to join the organisation by offering them flexible hours, a spokesman said. Foreign workers account for 13 per cent of SingPost's workforce across all business units.
The Changi Airport Group (CAG), though, "does not stipulate a foreign-local employee ratio" in its contracts with airport partners.
"They are expected to manage their respective workforce, and are required to provide contingency plans to provide for sufficient manpower resources to cope with unexpected staffing shortfalls ... or to deal with peak periods at the airport," said a CAG spokesperson.
Last week's illegal strike, which involved 171 bus drivers from China upset over their pay raises, brought into focus the public transport operators' growing dependence on foreigners and further served as a reminder to all firms to reflect on their management practices.
Mr Zaqy Mohamad, a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower, feels that, in an "ideal situation", companies should manage their reliance on foreign workers by spreading them evenly across business units.
But a better solution, he said, was to offer better terms to attract Singaporeans to go for those jobs in the areas of essential services but are currently taken up by foreign workers.
He highlighted two areas that companies should examine: Wages, which are not attractive enough, and working conditions.
"Wage equity is an issue," said Mr Zaqy. "Why do bus drivers earn less than, for instance, taxi drivers, when their jobs can be tougher? Working conditions can also be bad, with some of them working long hours."
He added that wage equity is probably something only "organisations offering essential services" should look into.
- TODAY
- wong chee tat :)
By Tan Weizhen, TODAY | Posted: 05 December 2012 0801 hrs
SINGAPORE: SingHealth, the country's largest public healthcare cluster, said it is reviewing its business contingency plans in the wake of the strike by SMRT's China bus drivers last week.
SingHealth, which oversees two hospitals - Singapore General Hospital and KK Women's and Children's Hospital - as well as five national specialty centres and nine polyclinics, is also undertaking "further risk assessments", its Deputy Group Director of Strategic Human Resources Goh Leong Huat said. SingHealth did not give details of what these assessments will entail.
SingHealth, which employs over 16,000 staff, did not respond to queries on how many foreign staff it has on its books. However, Mr Goh said that SingHealth employs foreign staff "based on calibrated assessment and balance of the need for trained healthcare workers".
Several other companies contacted were cagey when asked if they are reviewing their plans in the wake of the illegal strike.
Some said they have adopted measures to ensure they keep a low reliance on foreign manpower.
SingPost said it has a pool of temporary workers who can be activated when needed and it also encourages retirees and housewives to join the organisation by offering them flexible hours, a spokesman said. Foreign workers account for 13 per cent of SingPost's workforce across all business units.
The Changi Airport Group (CAG), though, "does not stipulate a foreign-local employee ratio" in its contracts with airport partners.
"They are expected to manage their respective workforce, and are required to provide contingency plans to provide for sufficient manpower resources to cope with unexpected staffing shortfalls ... or to deal with peak periods at the airport," said a CAG spokesperson.
Last week's illegal strike, which involved 171 bus drivers from China upset over their pay raises, brought into focus the public transport operators' growing dependence on foreigners and further served as a reminder to all firms to reflect on their management practices.
Mr Zaqy Mohamad, a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower, feels that, in an "ideal situation", companies should manage their reliance on foreign workers by spreading them evenly across business units.
But a better solution, he said, was to offer better terms to attract Singaporeans to go for those jobs in the areas of essential services but are currently taken up by foreign workers.
He highlighted two areas that companies should examine: Wages, which are not attractive enough, and working conditions.
"Wage equity is an issue," said Mr Zaqy. "Why do bus drivers earn less than, for instance, taxi drivers, when their jobs can be tougher? Working conditions can also be bad, with some of them working long hours."
He added that wage equity is probably something only "organisations offering essential services" should look into.
- TODAY
- wong chee tat :)
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Study finds Singapore firms lack disaster recovery plans
Study finds Singapore firms lack disaster recovery plans
MANILA, PHILIPPINES, 15 DECEMBER 2010 -- The good news is that large companies see the merits in virtualisation. The bad news is that not many companies are protecting their virtualised environments well enough.
This good news-bad news describes what is happening in Singapore according to a recent study by security firm Symantec.
Known as one of the technology leaders in the region, Singapore companies are usually the early adopters of new technology. But when it comes to disaster preparedness, a recent Symantec global report noted that companies’ virtualised environments are not protected.
New technologies
“While organisations are adopting new technologies to reduce costs, they are adding more complexity to their environment and based on the Symantec Disaster Recovery Survey, more than half of Singaporean organisations are not protecting the new virtual environments they create,” said Tan Yuh-Woei, country manager, Singapore, Symantec.
The study involving large companies in Singapore revealed that 65 per cent of companies do not include their virtual environments in their disaster recovery plans. Symantec said this is significantly up from only 50 per cent of respondents surveyed in 2009.
More than half do not regularly back up even if some of their mission-critical applications and data are in a virtual, rather than physical, environment.
The few companies that have some kind of disaster recovery plan – one in 10 respondents – use replication and failover technologies respectively to protect virtual environments.
Cloud
The study also noted that companies run about 50 per cent of their mission-critical applications in the new cloud computing environment. But even if they are early adopters, 35 per cent of respondents said one of the challenges they face in adopting the new trend is the ability to control failovers. Twenty-four per cent also noted that their concern is the ability to back-up in cloud.
Symantec was not quick to find fault on these companies as they noted that virtual environments, including cloud, are much more complex than the traditional physical computer set-up.
Symantec said IT managers need different tools to manage and protect data and applications in a virtual environment compared to a physical environment.
Added Tan: “While we expect to see further consolidation in the industry of these tools, data centre managers should simplify and standardise so they can focus on fundamental best practices that help reduce downtime.”
Global report
Singapore’s disaster preparedness was included in Symantec’s 2010 Symantec Disaster Recovery Study done in October but released last month. The country reports have only become available recently.
The Singapore study covered 100 enterprises out of the 1,700 enterprises surveyed worldwide. Singapore was the only Southeast Asian country included in the telephone survey. The other Asian countries included China, India, Japan and South Korea. The enterprises involved in the worldwide study were those with 5,000 or more employees.
Tags: Disaster recovery
- wong chee tat :)
Virtualisation, cloud complicate disaster recovery
By
15 Dec 2010
15 Dec 2010
MANILA, PHILIPPINES, 15 DECEMBER 2010 -- The good news is that large companies see the merits in virtualisation. The bad news is that not many companies are protecting their virtualised environments well enough.
This good news-bad news describes what is happening in Singapore according to a recent study by security firm Symantec.
Known as one of the technology leaders in the region, Singapore companies are usually the early adopters of new technology. But when it comes to disaster preparedness, a recent Symantec global report noted that companies’ virtualised environments are not protected.
New technologies
“While organisations are adopting new technologies to reduce costs, they are adding more complexity to their environment and based on the Symantec Disaster Recovery Survey, more than half of Singaporean organisations are not protecting the new virtual environments they create,” said Tan Yuh-Woei, country manager, Singapore, Symantec.
The study involving large companies in Singapore revealed that 65 per cent of companies do not include their virtual environments in their disaster recovery plans. Symantec said this is significantly up from only 50 per cent of respondents surveyed in 2009.
More than half do not regularly back up even if some of their mission-critical applications and data are in a virtual, rather than physical, environment.
The few companies that have some kind of disaster recovery plan – one in 10 respondents – use replication and failover technologies respectively to protect virtual environments.
Cloud
The study also noted that companies run about 50 per cent of their mission-critical applications in the new cloud computing environment. But even if they are early adopters, 35 per cent of respondents said one of the challenges they face in adopting the new trend is the ability to control failovers. Twenty-four per cent also noted that their concern is the ability to back-up in cloud.
Symantec was not quick to find fault on these companies as they noted that virtual environments, including cloud, are much more complex than the traditional physical computer set-up.
Symantec said IT managers need different tools to manage and protect data and applications in a virtual environment compared to a physical environment.
Added Tan: “While we expect to see further consolidation in the industry of these tools, data centre managers should simplify and standardise so they can focus on fundamental best practices that help reduce downtime.”
Global report
Singapore’s disaster preparedness was included in Symantec’s 2010 Symantec Disaster Recovery Study done in October but released last month. The country reports have only become available recently.
The Singapore study covered 100 enterprises out of the 1,700 enterprises surveyed worldwide. Singapore was the only Southeast Asian country included in the telephone survey. The other Asian countries included China, India, Japan and South Korea. The enterprises involved in the worldwide study were those with 5,000 or more employees.
Tags: Disaster recovery
- wong chee tat :)
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