Avoid the knock-out blow of communications break-down.

With disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and tornadoes striking everywhere from Indonesia to Indiana, there is growing concern among building owners, property managers, brokers and tenants about avoiding communication system failures, reports ConnectMe, a leading business communication solution company with more than 25 years' experience in the industry.

One doesn't have to watch CNN nightly to see real estate assets taking it on the chin from natural disasters. That's why ConnectMe created a special industry advisory to help keep real estate companies and related businesses like construction, architecture, engineering, insurance and law firms from the knockout blow of a widespread business communication system failure.

"After a disaster, it is important to get a building up and running ASAP, not only because it's the bottom line for a building asset, but also because of the businesses that buildings support and the neighboring community recovering from the disaster," says Scott Seltzer, CEO of ConnectMe, adding, "A great majority of business phone systems failed just at the very time they were most needed."

Seltzer advises that in order to protect businesses and real estate assets, owners should consider virtual hosting. There was widespread failure of local PBX and cell phone services in the wake of Katrina.

New virtual PBX business telephone systems provide a range of advanced features--including call routing, follow-me calling, voicemail, fax-mail, and ACD queues. Given that they're virtually hosted, they can continue to be operative even when equipment is damaged locally.

ConnectMe, which has developed solutions for thousands of users at Fortune 500 companies, also suggests that real estate businesses set up an 800 Emergency Number.