The Florida Chamber of Commerce today announced it will make a free emergency email protection service available to all Florida businesses during the 2006 Hurricane Season. The "Digital Disaster Preparedness" service is available to companies that have an Internet domain name and request the service online - a process that takes less than 10 minutes.

Developed in cooperation with AppRiver, LLC, a FL-based business email security services provider, the "Digital Disaster Preparedness" service will protect and preserve email traffic if businesses' IT infrastructures are vulnerable to hurricane-related damage.

"If a hurricane threatens server damage or power outages without back-up, this is the perfect system for ensuring the continued flow of email," said Blake Gehres, Chief Technology Officer, Florida Chamber of Commerce. "Businesses can avoid disruption to their email traffic for the duration of any outages at no cost by taking advantage of this service."

"We're pleased to be partnering with AppRiver to help other Florida businesses protect critical operations throughout the hurricane season," Mr. Gehres added. "AppRiver is a Florida technology company that has earned an international reputation for the quality of their email security services."

To access the free service, businesses need only visit the Florida Chamber web site (www.floridachamber.com) or the AppRiver web site (www.appriver.com) and click the button marked "Digital Disaster Preparedness." Users will be guided through a simple process from that point or they can call AppRiver at 1-866-223-4645.

Once a company signs up for the service, AppRiver will monitor that company's email server activity. If the receiving server is down for any reason, AppRiver will begin queuing the business' incoming email messages in one of its Tier 1 data centers located in Texas, Virginia and England until that company's email servers are fully functioning or the company asks for its email to be redirected elsewhere. Email messages can also be made available online at the user's request.

"In the digital age, lost email can mean lost customers, lost revenue and lost opportunities," said Michael Murdoch, CEO of AppRiver. "We have seen the effects of lost email on business in our community and around the world and want to offer protection to other companies in Florida that may be especially vulnerable to hurricanes, flooding and other natural disasters."

The service, which also includes free spam and virus filtering, is available from June 1 to October 31.