Post-Isabel, IT managers say preparation paid off

Companies worked to keep communications and business going despite floods and power outages. Hurricane Isabel dissipated today, leaving behind at least 17 people dead and more than 4 million people without electricity. It also left in its wake a slew of IT managers grateful that the storm wasn’t any worse. In Washington, in an area hit hard by flooding, Ned Ingraham, senior IT manager at the District of Columbia’s Emergency Management Agency, reported that electricity remained on and computer systems kept working in his bunker throughout the hurricane’s worst blows yesterday. Ingraham was forced to bring in additional laptops for members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency who used his office as a command center, but with the exception of a “few minor problems,” things went smoothly. In fact, Ingraham was particularly proud of a geographic information system that allowed IT personnel to plot the location of about 300 downed trees, broken power lines and power outages, which in turn allowed emergency workers to respond with greater efficiency. Full Story