After the attack: IT working to keep data online, resources safe

Computerworld - Still reeling from the shock of multiple attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside of Washington, U.S. companies are responding quickly to assure that their people are safe, that IT facilities remain online and that disaster preparedness and recovery plans are in place.

Charles Schwab & Co., which has eight branch offices in New York, including one in the World Trade Center, has accounted for all of its New York staff, including 10 employees at the World Trade Center, according to spokesman Glen Mathison.

"Otherwise, we are open for business. People are able to place trades; our system is up. But with the market closed, there is no trading, trades cannot be executed. Phone service in New York has been disrupted, but everything else seems to be normal," he said. Trades executed today will be posted when the markets reopen.

"Our US Trust subsidiary in midtown Manhattan has been evacuated. Our other major operation on the East Coast is our capital-trading and market-making activity in Jersey City. They have not been affected, but then again, the market is closed. We are just going to wait to see how things develop," Mathison said.

"My first priority is my people," said Cathie Kozik, CIO at Tellabs Inc., a telecommunications equipment company in Lisle, Ill. "I'm making sure they have access to information and that if they have friends or family who might be involved, to take care of them first."

Two of Tellabs' 268 IT staffers were sent home because they were too upset to work, said Kozik, who had come to work early this morning to get ready for a staff meeting. She found out about the attack when her administrative assistant told her. "It's a heart-stopping thing."

Tellabs immediately called several of its biggest customers, including carriers SBC Communications Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., to find out whether they need additional telecommunications gear.

So far, they don't, Kozik said. "We have systems set to ship to someplace not impacted, but we can divert them to places that need them," she said. "We have some equipment in the area of the World Trade Center. We called them right off the bat."

Unlike several other major Chicago-area companies, Tellabs hadn't shut down, as of 12 p.m. CDT. Kozik had planned to meet again with Tellabs' head of human resources, take in more radio and TV news reports "and walk the floor again and see how my folks are doing."

Sears, Roebuck and Co., which has 860