Most companies have implemented disaster recover plans for their network infrastructure; however, not many seem to make too much effort to plan continued operations during an epidemic such as what is possible with the Swine Flu.  While everyone at Tier 1 IP hopes that we all remain flu free this season, we have developed a plan to make sure we can continue to operate and provide high quality installation and support services to our clients if an epidemic breaks out. Starting with making sure our employees know about and use proven preventative health practices to remain healthy, including proper diets and regular forms of exercise and stress relief.  Tier 1 IP also has implemented a hosted PBX phone system for our employees to work remotely, including adding a client software version of our Cisco voice over IP phones to each of their laptops.   This coupled with a secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) platform and leading edge remote access tools gives our management and technical staff the ability to operate under many unplanned circumstances.  The ability to work remotely is a crucial aspect of our business and something that ultimately benefits our clients by shortening our time to respond to issues.  Contact Tier 1 IP today if you are interested in implementing a similar virtual office or mobile work solution to reduce your overhead and make your business more efficient.