(Las Vegas, Nevada)—Not long ago, a small business IT disaster consisted of a computer breakdown which would require expensive repair or replacement. Today, with the role computers play in business systems and data, a disaster means losing data through theft, hardware malfunction and many other forms of security breach.

In fact, research shows that 60% of businesses fail after losing their data. Expetec franchisees across the nation offer data protection services to small and medium businesses, earning them a new role as business' best friend.

The organization that began as a computer repair franchise in 1992, is now a full-service IT organization, helping customers increase productivity, reduce costs and develop technical skills. To accomplish that goal, Expetec franchisees offer five new services.

Expetec franchise members from all over the United States spent part of last week learning the nuances of these new tools at their annual training conference.

"With our new broad range of services, a small business could rely on their local Expetec office for whatever degree of service they need. For one business that might mean augmenting their current IT staff for one specific area, like data backup,” said Bryan German, Expetec Director of Product Development. "Another business might call upon Expetec to manage their entire IT infrastructure.”

E-Care/Network administration services are a primary need of most small and medium businesses. Within that category is Expetec Managed Services. This service provides anti-virus management, spy ware detection and removal, patch management and internet debris removal for desktop computers. For servers, they provide 24/7 monitoring and troubleshooting as well as server preventative maintenance, patch management, antivirus management, spy ware detection and removal and backup monitoring and administration. The service is all done remotely, avoiding office interruption.

E-Secure eliminates vulnerability to viruses, worms, spam, hackers and internal misuse which has business owners asking "how safe is my network?” Expetec has added two new services in the network security category: Expetec Firewall and Expetec Network Monitoring.

E-Secure also provides content filtering while a complementary offering is Expetec Network Monitoring which provides 24/7 protection/monitoring with four options for service levels. It also monitors Internet hackers and employee Internet usage. Usage and attack reports are tailored around the clients' specific needs.

E-Save/business continuity services have also been added to help businesses continue business after a variety of IT disasters. This product line provides automatic offsite data backup. It protects businesses from losing data due to viruses, worms, crashes, degradation, human loss or destruction and natural disasters. Files are encrypted for safety and security. Data is stored at two locations. Another E-Save product, provides disc-to-disc backup of the entire system and system restoration in the event of a crash. System replication maps identically to pre-crash status without original CDs or licenses. It is the quickest recovery available. The product also offers email protection.

In addition, web services including Expetec Web Design and Expetec Web Hosting are now available to help businesses move into the world of e-commerce.

"It's not a matter of if, but rather a matter of when some level of disaster will affect your business data. Our goal, with these new service offerings, is to help our clients avoid becoming one of the statistics,” said German. "A more secure business is more efficient, more profitable and more competitive.”

Expetec was founded in 1992 in Aberdeen, South Dakota and began franchising in 1996. The company was acquired in 2005 by the Jet Company venture capital firm, also of Aberdeen. They currently have franchises in 27 states and Canada.