Technology’s Response to Katrina - The Tech Community Pitches in
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The phone companies are calling out the big guns, and other technology companies are also doing what they can to help. Sprint Nextel is sending nearly two dozen trucks into the area to help relief efforts and restore phone service. This fleet includes five satellite cells on light trucks and 3,000 walkie talkies. Qwest is sending in 2,000 long distance calling cards for people to use to call their loved ones. Comcast is donating $10 million worth of free advertising for public service announcements related to disaster relief. Amazon.com is letting people donate to the Red Cross with its one-click payment system.
Craigslist is proving to be a rallying point. The site’s pages now include ones that list volunteer opportunities and offers, requests for information about loved ones, and offers of free temporary housing for those left homeless by the storm. The free community website is one of many letting the victims of the disaster know that they are not alone, and that help is available.
In New Orleans itself, T-Mobile is stepping forward to offer free wireless Internet access across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The company is setting up hotspots locally in a number of places, including Borders bookstores, FedEx/Kinko’s, Starbucks, Hyatt Hotels, Red Roof Inn motels, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and US Airways. In its statement, T-Mobile said that “The free service is intended for those who have been displaced from their homes or are seeking refuge from the hurricane…This free offer for the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama is for Wi-Fi service only, not T-Mobile voice services. There will be no charge for T-Mobile HotSpot service, at these locations, through the end of day Friday, September 2, 2005. The situation will be re-evaluated at that time to determine if the free service will continue.” Granted, given that about 80 percent of New Orleans is said to be underwater, potential users of the service might have some difficulty taking advantage of it, but it is still a noble gesture.
Finally, it is worth noting that Web hosting company directNIC.com has managed to maintain continuous uptime (as of this writing) from a tenth-floor datacenter in New Orleans’ Business district. The company is owned by Intercosmos Media Group. In addition to keeping their services going, they have been offering a blow-by-blow of the situation in their blog, which you can read here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/).
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