Mitigating Risk in Co-Location Engagements

Yusuf Cassim, Vice President, Intellectual Property, Licensing and Contracts, The Charles Schwab Corporation

Given the state of the economy, businesses seeking to reduce IT costs have shown increasing interest in co-location and hosting arrangements. Many of these engagements, however, have gone horribly wrong (e.g., poor vendor performance, unexpected fees and cost overruns, delayed implementation, etc.), resulting in greater overall costs, lost revenue, and increased security risks. The siren song of co-location vendors is that they can provide a secure, reliable, and cost-effective alternative to the business expending its own limited resources to operate the systems internally. Unfortunately, aggressive marketing materials seldom result in similarly aggressive contractual protections. Hyperbole by co-location vendors about their capabilities needs to be backed up with specific, enforceable contract commitments.

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USA Risk Banking & Finance February 2011 Vol. 4, No. 14, Winter 2011

Yusuf Cassim

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Yusuf Cassim was appointed Vice President, Intellectual Property, Licensing and Contracts in February 1998. Mr. Cassim is in charge of contracts and Intellectual Property at Charles Schwab and Co. His practice focuses on counseling clients regarding technology licensing, outsourcing, information security, electronic commerce and intellectual property. He is also responsible for Schwab's patent program and developed Schwab's formal patent risk assessment program, including enhancing Schwab's proactive approach to monitoring potential areas of IP risk. Mr. Cassim writes and speaks frequently on legal issues of doing business on the Internet, technology in the workplace and Open Source. Mr. Cassim also participates in technology industry groups in the financial services industry. Mr. Cassim is admitted to practice law in South Africa and California. He has a JSM (LLM) from Stanford University, School of Law and a JD from UCLA School of Law.

The Charles Schwab Corporation

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The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) has been a leader in financial services for more than three decades. Through advocacy and innovation, the company has worked to make investing more affordable, more accessible and more understandable to all.

USA Risk Banking & Finance February 2011 Vol. 4, No. 14, Winter 2011

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