Firms Offer Technology for Katrina Effort

SAN JOSE, Calif. - High-tech companies in Silicon Valley and elsewhere are offering money, equipment and expertise to help with the recovery effort and reconnect survivors in areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., SBC Communications Inc., Dell Inc. and others are working with the Red Cross to build voice and data communications at hundreds of evacuation shelters, and link them together.

The equipment - including laptop computers and wireless access points - will help the relief agency track evacuees as well as help them find emergency funds and track lost relatives, said Intel spokeswoman Jennifer Greeson.

"It has to be a very robust communications tool that all the shelters can use to communicate with each other and with headquarters," she said.

Intel and other companies already have employees working with the Red Cross in Washington. About 150 wireless access points as well as 1,500 Dell Inc. and Lenovo notebooks are expected to be deployed early this week.
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