Critical Data

Companies operated in a state of shock and disbelief earlier this fall, following the terrorist attacks. But all around the country, people were trying to get back to business, either as a welcome distraction or to prove that terrorists cannot paralyze our economy.

Companies quickly realized that technology — from hard-wired videoconferencing to wireless text messaging — could maintain client relationships through turbulent times when employees might be reluctant or unable to board planes.

“We're anticipating that business will regroup and go forward,” said Kathy Sudeikis, American Society of Travel Agents national vice president and a veteran travel agent. “Once the initial shock wears off, people will travel again … but no one has a handle on the magic day when that will happen.”

Corporate travel budgets already had been slashed prior to Sept. 11. Further, companies have eliminated 2001 travel due to security risks, whether real or perceived. For example, the McCormick Spice Company in Baltimore grounded 8,100 employees following the September terrorist attacks.

Although individual salespeople still are traveling to meet clients face-to-face, Sudeikis said companies are sending smaller trade-show delegations or are canceling such commitments entirely.

John Challenger, Challenger, Gray & Christmas CEO, said the next few months will determine the tragedy's overall effect on how businesses operate — from travel habits to communications needs.

“I do think that businesses and people are going to rely more heavily on technology to get business matters completed,” Challenger said. “People will continue to travel, and there are technologies in place that continue to get more user-friendly. Habits are changing, businesses are changing, and this event will accelerate that change. They will look for alternative solutions to getting on a plane so readily, and technology provides many of those solutions.”

Teleconferencing systems are experiencing renewed interest, as are wireless phones, satellite phones and other alternative forms of communications. Much of this interest comes in direct response to the failure of landline telephone systems in New York City and Washington, DC, during the attacks.

“Technology is not going to stop because of a terrorist attack,” said Jim Bryant, owner of Manassas Cab Company in Manassas, VA.

During the crisis, Bryant's company maintained open lines by using Nextel's Direct Connect system as an alternative to the landline phone system. Although Manassas cab drivers could communicate with one another and with dispatch, customers relying on landline connections couldn't get through for nearly five hours on Sept. 11.

“This Nextel system is a good one,” Bryant said. “The real key is that our system has three separate platforms. It has the cell phone, which also has the paging, which we use as a primary backup. It has the 'Net, which is our standard mode of operating and sending data to the phones. And it has Direct Connect, which is not as good as a standard radio because there are sometimes difficulties in hearing people, and you can only talk to one person at a time. But it worked. We survived. We were not brought to our knees. We were not destroyed.”

What Worked

On the contrary, technology fared quite well under attack. By studying how certain applications worked under strain, businesses hope to weather future crises.

“Technology proved extremely valuable during this crisis,” Challenger said. “Coming out of this crisis, there will be a surge in demand for wireless products and technology.”

At least three major carriers — Nextel, Sprint PCS and VoiceStream — experienced data-minute spikes after the tragedy.

Sprint PCS saw an increase in data, messaging and numeric paging just after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, and by the afternoon, data usage had stabilized to average levels, said Jenny Walsh, Sprint PCS spokesperson.

“When you get high volume like that, and voice calls get ‘system busy,’ text messages can still go through,” said Kim Thompson, VoiceStream spokesperson. “People that don't use text messaging all the time might have tried using it. Whereas people who do use it normally used it a lot then.”

Mary Evren, Nextel business applications director, said the carrier talked to many subscribers who used the Direct Connect radio feature during and after the disaster. Because the Direct Connect feature doesn't require connection to the PSTN, transmissions were not blocked like traditional cellular calls. “A lot of people who couldn't get through on phones used messaging,” Evren said. “We have our own nationwide TCP/IP-based network that carries all our data traffic … but people trying to make cellular phone calls on the Nextel network were affected the same way everybody else was.”

Evren said the Direct Connect and 2-way messaging features worked well throughout the crisis.

“We were very fortunate in that our facilities were all up and running during that time.”

In some small way, these stories validate carrier efforts to implement wireless data. But their overall data strategies will not change in the near-term.

Although Nextel and VoiceStream discussed messaging applications, most were reluctant to discuss their future wireless data strategy. Off the record, carriers said engineers and executives were too busy with repairs to discuss wireless data strategy.

“From Nextel's position on the data side, our strategy will probably stay consistent,” Evren said. “We have been out there in front aggressively launching data applications that really get used. We have over a million users of data on our phones. And we got a lot of feedback during the disaster … of two areas in which our phones added significant value. … This validates the real utility of these data applications and gives us an impetus to get more functionality out there for people to use.”

In September, Thompson said VoiceStream's GPRS roll-out schedule was unchanged by the tragedy, though the carrier had not set an exact date for deployment. (VoiceStream quietly launched GPRS and its iStream service in October.)

“In light of what happened, we understand that voice will continue to be a big part of how our networks are used,” she said. “From VoiceStream's standpoint, we are in the wireless business, and that includes voice and other applications. Voice will continue to be the leading application of our network.”