IT Community Steps Up To Volunteer

[Dillinger]

I know some of us work in IT... thought this article might be of interest.

If you are willing to donate IT goods or services to help in the wake of the tragedy in New York:

http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO63804,00.html

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IT community steps up to volunteer
By MELISSA SOLOMON
(September 14, 2001)
ComputerWorld, 9/17/2001

First there was shock. Then panic. Then grief. Then action.

As relief workers looked for survivors amid the rubble from Tuesday's terrorist attacks, the IT community came together by the thousands to help rebuild the New York businesses that literally crumbled to the ground.

Many in the IT community wanted to help by offering hardware, software, fully equipped office space, volunteers, consultants - but they didn't know how.

"We're just sitting here on the sidelines. We're giving blood, but what else can we do?" asked Thomas M. Henricks, data processing manager at Mars National Bank in Mars, Pa. Even though his company is a small community bank with $230 million in assets, Henricks knew there was, at the very least, technical expertise that workers could offer the victims.

"I'm sure that these people had disaster plans in place after the World Trade Center bombing [in 1993], but how many tech people were lost? Are these companies going to be able to fully recover?" asked Henricks, who put out e-mail messages to various contacts to see if they knew of IT relief efforts under way.

On Thursday, Computerworld began building a database of potential IT volunteers and donors. Within an hour, hundreds had offered to pitch in.

Casey Karel, a member of the Corporate Volunteers of New York and director of New York-based Credit Suisse First Boston Corp.'s foundation, which donated $1 million to the relief efforts, said she was just starting to hear on Thursday from affected businesses about the help they need. As more come forward, Karel said, she plans to connect them with those signing up at Computerworld's Volunteer IT site.

"I think everybody is numb still," she said. "But they want to do the right thing."

Germany-based Siemens AG had about 75 people in the World Trade Center, so executives' first concern was for the well-being of staff, said Marty Cravatta, information security manager for the Americas at Siemens. But once everyone was accounted for, managers looked at the bigger picture and decided to offer logistical services to other companies that operated in the towers, he said.

After accounting for all of its employees, Paris-based Cap Gemini Ernst & Young came forward with offers of fully equipped office space and support volunteers in its advanced development center, located about a block from the New York Stock Exchange. The plan is to use the space, with about 250 to 300 desks, as a sort of triage center to help businesses move critical projects forward, said Lanny Cohen, vice president of strategy and technology services. "The idea started to germinate as early as Tuesday evening," he said. "We said, 'Tomorrow, the sun's going to come up, and we've got to react.'"

West Chester, Pa.-based United Messaging Inc. also rallied to action with offers of free e-mail services for companies that operated in the World Trade Center.

"Because we serve large enterprises, we realize how critical e-mail is to them," said Len Gangi, United Messaging's senior vice president of product development and engineering. "We have services available. Let's make those services available to companies in need."

The need is certainly there, not only for individual businesses, but also for the IT infrastructure at large, said Edward Roche, chief research officer at The Research Board Inc. in New York. The devastation at the World Trade Center knocked out major routers, blocked switches, destroyed trading floors and crippled emergency backup systems, he said. "The systems are overwhelmed," said Roche. "Everything's broken."

New York-based IT volunteer organization Voluntech had its network routed near the World Trade Center, so its e-mail was down well into Wednesday. But as soon as the system was back up, Eric Hancock, one of the group's co-founders, began listing tips for volunteers on its Web site.

Harrisburg, Pa.-based TransCore Inc. mobilized its transportation industry business-to-business network to get 700 trucks to the World Trade Center to help with disaster-relief transportation needs.

In many cases, the costs for businesses were substantial, but no one seemed to be talking about that last week.

"There are only two things that make our business go: our people and our clients," said Cap Gemini's Cohen. "So that isn't an issue."

 

[Dillinger]

Companies who've donated $10,000 or more to the Sept. 11th fund (now over 89 million):

Microsoft
$10,000,000

IBM Corporation
$5,000,000

Vivendi Universal
$5,000,000

HCA
$2,000,000

Siemens
$2,000,000

Tran Dinh Truong, Hotel Carter (New York, NY),
and Hotel Lafayette (Buffalo, NY)
$2,000,000

Avaya
$1,500,000

Abbott Labs
$1,000,000

Bank of America
$1,000,000

Blockbuster, Inc.
$1,000,000

EDS
$1,000,000

The Home Depot
$1,000,000

Interactive Brokers Group LLC
$1,000,000

The Limited, Inc./Intimate Brands, Inc.
$1,000,000

Mattel, Inc.
$1,000,000

RBC Financial Group, Headquartered in Canada
$1,000,000

Starbucks Coffee Company
$1,000,000

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
$1,000,000

Swiss ReInsurance
$1,000,000

Unisys
$1,000,000

Verity
$1,000,000

Williams Gas Pipeline
$1,000,000

United Way of NY State
$750,000

Equilon Enterprises-Shell & Texaco working together
$500,000

Janus
$500,000

Lucent Technologies
$500,000

SunLife Financial
$500,000

Applied Materials
$250,000

Compaq Computer Corp.
$250,000

Office Depot
$250,000

Procter & Gamble
$250,000

Solectron Corporation
$250,000

Lafarge, North America
$200,000

United Way of Broward County/Florida
$120,000

Avery Dennison
$100,000

The Boeing Company
$100,000

Brother International Corporation
$100,000

Burlington Northern Santa Fe
$100,000

Corning
$100,000

The Dibner Fund
$100,000

H.J. Heinz Company
$100,000

H.O. Penn, NYC Caterpillar Dealer
$100,000

Mellon Financial Corporation
$100,000

National Distributing Co., Inc.
$100,000

United Way Central Maryland
$100,000

United Way Community Services, Detroit
$100,000

United Way of Allegheny County
$100,000

United Way of Columbus
$100,000

United Way of Greater St. Louis
$75,000

Cassava Enterprises, LTD.
$50,000

Charter Municipal Mortgage Acceptance
$50,000

Credence
$50,000

Dwight Stuart Youth Foundation
$50,000

The Rhode Island Foundation
$50,000

United Way of Central New York
$50,000

United Way of Puerto Rico
$50,000

Unocal Corporation
$50,000

U.S. Trust
$30,000

United Way of Metro Oklahoma City
$30,000

George and Fay Young Foundation, Inc.
$25,000

The Jockey Club
$25,000

The Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation
$25,000

Kobo Products
$25,000

Mitsubishi Chemical America, Inc.
$25,000

MONY Foundation-The MONY Group
$25,000

Public Strategies, Inc.
$25,000

United Way of Greater Mercer County
$25,000

United Way of Greater Rochester
$25,000

Olympic Optical
$20,000

American RuYi Machinery Corp.
$10,000

Builder's General Supply Company
$10,000

The Duncan Oil Company
$10,000

The Foothills United Way
$10,000

Harrah's Ak-Chin Casino Resort
$10,000

Mr. Bob Lam
$10,000

New York State Credit Union Foundation
$10,000

The Piedmont United Way
$10,000

Sporran, Inc.
$10,000

Turbo Sportswear
$10,000

United Way - Thomas Jefferson Area
$10,000

United Way of Pittsburgh
$10,000

The WD-40 Company
$10,000

 

[Dillinger]

Just updated:

Lilly Endowment $10,000,000
Microsoft 10,000,000
Atlantic Philanthropies 10,000,000
IBM 5,000,000
Vivendi Universal 5,000,000
New York Life Foundation 3,000,000
HCA 2,000,000
Siemens 2,000,000
Avaya 1,500,000
Abbott Laboratories 1,000,000
Bank of America 1,000,000
Blockbuster Inc. 1,000,000
EDS 1,000,000
Home Depot 1,000,000
Interactive Brokers Group LLC 1,000,000
RBC Financial Group 1,000,000
Starbucks Coffee Company 1,000,000
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide 1,000,000
Swiss Reinsurance 1,000,000
The Limited Inc. 1,000,000
Unisys 1,000,000
Verity 1,000,000
Williams Gas Pipeline 1,000,000

 

[Dillinger]

United Way Electronic Pledge Form - September 11th Fund

https://september11fund.org/epledge/step2.html

 

[Dillinger]

U.S. recovery: Identities of more IT victims known

By InfoWorld staff
September 18, 2001 5:10 pm PT

The list of technology industry executives confirmed dead in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon continues to grow. As recovery efforts go on at the disaster sites, more details have emerged confirming the identities of victims.

The following is a list of the most recently identified victims:

Charles S. Falkenberg, 45, of University Park, Md., a research director at data management firm ECOlogic; Charles Droz, 52, Springfield, Va., vice president for software development at EM Solutions; John Sammartino, 37, of Annandale, Va., a technical manager at electronics maker XonTech; and Leonard Taylor, 44, of Reston, Va., a XonTech technical group manager. All four were aboard American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.

John Cahill, 56, Wellesley, Mass., a senior executive at Xerox, was confirmed dead. He was on board United Airlines Flight 175, the second plane to crash into the World Trade Center.

Listed as missing from the Pentagon were Donald McArthur Young, 41, of Roanoke, Va., and Gregg Harold Smallwood, 44, of Overland Park, Kan., both chief information systems technicians, U.S. Navy.

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Tech community stunned by loss of friends

By Martyn Williams and InfoWorld staff
September 13, 2001 5:00 pm PT

THE TECHNOLOGY COMMUNITY is mourning the loss of a growing list of industry executives who died in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The victims came from a broad spectrum of industry companies, among them Akamai, Sun Microsystems, BEA, MRV Communications, Netegrity, and Raytheon.

Among the victims were Daniel M. Lewin, 31, co-founder and CTO of Internet communication company Akamai Technologies; Phil Rosenzweig, of Acton, Mass., a director in Sun Microsystems' software organization; Edmund Glazer, CFO of California-based optical networking company MRV Communications; Jeff Mladenik, vice president of market development and interim CEO of ELogic; and Andrew Curry Green, director of business development for Elogic. They were on board American Airlines Flight 11 that slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

James E. Hayden, CFO of software maker Netegrity, and three executives from German software company BCT Software -- Heinrich Kimmig, president and CEO; Klaus Bothe, director of development; and Wolfgang Menzel, director of human resources -- were aboard United flight 175, the second plane to crash into the World Trade Center.

Steven D. "Jake" Jacoby, COO of wireless data and messaging provider Metrocall, was aboard American Airlines Flight 77. BEA Systems lead engineer Ed Felt, an employee in the e-commerce company's Liberty Corner, N.J., office, was on board United Flight 93 that crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

Raytheon reported four employees on board flights that crashed in New York and Washington, including Peter Gay, 54, of Tewksbury, Mass., vice president of operations for Electronic Systems; Stanley Hall, 68, of Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., director of program management in Arlington, Va.; David P. Kovalcin, 42, of Hudson, N.H., senior mechanical engineer for Electronic Systems in Tewksbury, Mass.; and Kenneth E. Waldie, 46, of Methuen, Mass., senior quality control engineer for Electronic Systems in Tewksbury, Mass.

Also on American Airlines Flight 11 were Anna Williams Allison, 48, of Stoneham, Mass., founder of A2 Software Solutions; Charles Jones, 48, Bedford, Mass., computer programmer; Jacqueline Norton, 60, Lubec, Maine, retired from Lucent Technology; Christopher Zarba, 47, of Hopkinton, Mass., software engineer with Concord Communication.

On United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston to Los Angeles that crashed into the World Trade Center were Graham Berkeley, 37, of Wellesley, Mass., of Xerox; Peter Hanson, 32, Groton, Mass., software salesman.

Suzanne Calley, 42, San Martin, Calif., of Cisco Systems was on American Airlines Flight 77, en route from Washington to Los Angeles that crashed into the Pentagon.

Meanwhile, Oracle in Redwood City, Calif., has lost sales account manager Todd Beamer, 32, who was on United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania.

The company is also missing six consultants understood to have been meeting in the World Trade Center at the time of the attacks.

Colleagues of the dead expressed their shock and sadness about the losses.

George Conrades, chairman and CEO of Akamai, said the company was reacting in disbelief to Lewin's death. "Danny was a wonderful human being," Conrades said. "He will be deeply missed by his many friends at Akamai. Our thoughts and prayers are with Danny's family, friends, and colleagues during this time of national tragedy and personal loss."

Sun Microsystems said that Rosenzweig, 47, had been with the company since 1991. "Our prayers and thoughts are with Phil's family and loved ones," Scott McNealy, Sun's chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

"This is a very sad day for MRV and for all who knew Edmund [Glazer]," said Noam Lotan, president and CEO of MRV, in the statement. "He was a true friend and his kindness and devotion will be deeply missed. We have lost a member of our family, and his loss is overwhelming to us all. Our thoughts and prayers are with Edmund's family, friends, and colleagues and all the families that have suffered personal losses during this tragedy."

Netegrity Chairman and CEO Barry Bycoff said of Hayden, "I speak on behalf of the entire company in conveying our deepest sadness at the tragic loss of an incredible human being and friend."

BCT Software said of Kimmig, "He leaves a sound company. He closely involved his experienced leading team as well as his motivated employees into all business processes."

Metrocall CFO Vince Kelly said that Jacoby "was a close personal friend, a leader and loved by the employees within our organization."

San Francisco-based PR consultant Mark Bingham also died in the Flight 93 crash. Bingham's mother, Alice Hogan, described on national television how her son phoned her from the plane to tell her of the hijacking and to say there were plans to try to stop the terrorists. "I'm proud of him," she said.

 

[Dillinger]

Above the Noise
Michael Vizard

Heroes who work behind the scenes

Some things in this world are just too horrific to think about until they actually happen. Even then, it is only our enduring need to put events into some larger context that eventually forces us to make the attempt.

Recent tragic events have swept the IT community along with everyone else as we all try to respond in a meaningful manner to what are only the latest terrible acts of senseless cruelty. As with any tragedy, heroes great and small emerge, ranging from the people on United flight 93 bound for San Francisco and the other flights, to the people presumed dead on the ground, and finally to the hundreds of thousands of people who have responded to a national emergency.

Among the smaller heroes of this tragedy are the IT people helping to coordinate emergency relief efforts. They earn comparatively low salaries at organizations including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the American Red Cross, the Office of Technology for New York City, and of course the police and fire departments for the city of New York. To facilitate the efforts of hundreds of thousands of relief workers, these people had to help create a logistical support network capable of tracking tons of incoming material and supplies where virtually no systems had been in place before.

Meanwhile, IT people in the financial services industry, which bore the brunt of the attacks in New York, worked feverishly during the past week to rebuild the technology infrastructure. These people tend to be the best and brightest in our industry - and trading began this week largely due to their efforts. Worrying about whether people can conduct financial transactions at this time may not seem like a priority, but in the face of terrorism the most important thing is to return to some level of normalcy as quickly as possible. Things will never be the same again, but the longer it takes to recover, the greater the terror. So for that reason, the people rebuilding the global financial networks are heroes, too.

Of course, in the wake of this disaster we can't help ponder what role technology will play as we adapt to a new view of the world. Obviously technology can help make us more secure and help track down the people who would commit such deeds. But there is much more going on here than a war. In fact, it really isn't a war in the conventional sense. Rather, it's a long-term struggle against ignorance and fear. People resort to violence when they are afraid. And the only way to combat fear is by disseminating information. Sharing information creates knowledge, which leads to understanding and ultimately peace and prosperity. And prosperous people usually don't feel the need to make war.

In the long term, the most important thing IT people can do to make the world a more stable place is to think of ways to make it easier for average people worldwide to access information. That means finding ways to bridge the global digital divide in an economical manner to create new technologies that foster language translation. People only start killing each other when they stop talking. As an industry, we need to focus on creating ways to make it easier to communicate, which in turn will foster education.


Michael Vizard is editor in chief of InfoWorld and InfoWorld.com. Contact him at michael_vizard@infoworld.com.