Hospital takes steps to stay connected
At St. Tammany Parish Hospital, spokeswoman Melissa Hodgson said Katrina's fury prompted the 237-bed hospital to install a satellite communications system so that telephone and Internet connectivity could be better maintained in future emergencies.
Having communications systems knocked out for weeks or longer was one of the greatest challenges for recovery efforts after the 2005 storms, Hodgson said in an e-mail.
"This system is routinely tested to give us certainty that we will have open lines of communication should another Katrina-level disaster strike," Hodgson wrote. Data backups of critical systems have also been moved out-of-state in preparation for Gustav's arrival, she said.
The hospital's data center is in a bunker designed to withstand hurricane force winds and is located 25 feet above sea level to prevent flooding, Hodgson site. Off-site data recovery and redundancy services are provided by SunGard in the event that local facilities are damaged.
At Tidewater, a New Orleans company that provides support, assistance, boats and crews to oil and gas exploration and production companies in the Gulf and elsewhere, IT operations have undergone major improvements since Katrina.
"Having learned from Katrina and Rita, we now have a totally redundant IT system in Dallas, instead of in New Orleans," said Joe Bennett, an executive vice president and chief investor relations officer. "We can just flip a switch. We didn't have that redundant system back then."
'You have to be prepared for the worst'
At Tidewater, company officials are closely monitoring weather reports to see where Gustav is heading and to gauge its strength, Bennett said. The company has about 8,400 employees, most of whom work on ships. About 70 people work in the company's New Orleans headquarters, including about five IT workers. Tidewater also has offices in Houston and its ship operations base is in nearby Amelia, on the coast.
"We believe that we are ready" for the approaching storm, Bennett said. "We've had a lot of training and we meet daily ... with our key personnel. This one is still a few days away. You have time to plan but you don't know what exactly what you're planning for. Do you revert your phone services, etc., to Houston or to New Orleans? You have to stay kind of light on your feet when you're planning for a hurricane. We've been through this before."
"What we learned from Katrina and Rita is that you can't be too prepared," he said. "Will this be a false alarm? Possibly, but you have to be prepared for the worst. There's no reason to panic."