Manhattan's VARBusiness 500 Companies Struggle After Attacks
1:30 PM EST Wed. Sep. 12, 2001
Of our 2001 VARBusiness 500 companies, 17 are headquartered on the island of Manhattan, site of yesterday's alleged terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center. Click here for map. As of noon today, the status of each are as follows:
Accenture (VB 500 Rank: 3)
Office is "officially closed today", but people are coming in.
PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Consulting (VB 500 rank: 8)
Short on staff, but people are in today.
Verizon Enterprise Solutions Group (VB 500 rank: 10)
According to Verizon spokesman Peter Thonis, "We didn't close yesterday and we were here all day and all night. We have the network up and it's been pretty much operational. We had some buildings downtown that experienced some damage and we're looking into that."
Information Builders (VB 500 rank: 123)
Open today.
Razorfish (VB 500 rank: 142)
Closed today.
Agency.com (VB 500 rank: 167)
All offices south of Canal street in New York are closed by City order. The following message is on the Agency.com Web site:
The tragedies that occurred in New York and the United States on Tuesday, Sept. 11 are beyond imagination. Our thoughts and wishes go out to the victims and their families.
Thank you to everyone who has expressed concern and wished our colleagues well.
Our headquarters office is located at 20 Exchange Place in New York, very close to the site of the World Trade Center. The area around our office is now off limits to everyone; therefore, our New York office will remain closed until further notice.
As far as we can determine, our employees are physically safe. However, we do not have complete information and we will spend the next 24 hours contacting every one of our colleagues. IF YOU ARE AN EMPLOYEE OF THE NEW YORK OFFICE OF AGENCY.COM OR I-TRAFFIC, PLEASE CONTACT US AT INFO@AGENCY.COM or at our temporary offices at (212) 659-5700 after 9:30 am New York time Wednesday.
If you are a client, we will be contacting you, and providing a phone number for you to call by end of day Wednesday, Sept. 12. Meanwhile, please feel free to use the info@agency.com e-mail address as well. Please be assured that all of our client data has been backed up and stored in a safe place. We apologize in advance for the inevitable delay that will result from this tragedy. We will do our best to make sure that we fulfill our promises.
Thank you for your support in these trying times.
DIS Research (VB 500 rank: 220)
Closed today. Web site is down.
AMC (VB 500 rank: 246)
According to Nancy Tancredi, assistant to CEO Sonny Chobra, "We are open for business, operating with a skeleton crew. The building, well north of the World Trade Center, was not physically effected. We used to have a view of the Twin Towers. With the devastation, we are receiving numerous calls from our customers today. We are doing our best to accommodate our customer's needs."
Computer Generated Solutions (VB 500 rank: 255)
Offices closed today. Web site is up.
Rare Medium Group (VB 500 rank: 256)
Office are closed today.
Xceed (VB 500 rank: 261)
Office closed by city order. Web site is down.
Starpoint Solutions (VB 500 rank: 263) Office closed by city order. Web site is down. Starpoint is located in the same building as Plural, 115 Broadway, and Xceed is just up the road at 233 Broadway.
Plural (VB 500 rank: 295)
Offices are closed. According to the Plural Web site, the company successfully evacuated their New York Broadway office. The windows were blown out of the building, across the street from the World Trade Center, but they believe it is structurally sound.
A Plural general manager in Boston reported that their other offices in the area are up and running, and their servers are intact.
Plural CEO Neil Isford told VARBusiness the company has additional space in their Stanford, Conn.-based office, and will be reopening a New Jersey-based office in an effort to accommodate their displaced New York employees. They are unsure when they will be able to return to their New York office.
Globix (VB 500 rank: 314)
According to Paul Bonington, vice president of marketing and sales operations, "We're fine--our facilities were unaffected." Bonington explained that the companies' two data centers are located in Manhattan. Both facilities are fully operational and staffed with essential operations and security personnel. For today, non-essential personnel are home.
AppliedTheory (VB 500 rank: 329)
CEO Danny Stroud told VARBusiness, "In the grand scheme of things the impact on us was minimal. We've had nobody that was hurt." Stroud said that about 7 key customers were experiencing internet connectivity problems related to damage at a Verizon facility near the World Trade Center. "It looks like (Verizon is) taking extraordinary steps to save that facility, and have at least a chance of saving it." Most workers are either home or at other Applied Theory locations, and Stroud mentioned the company may be able to provide emergency facilities to other companies shortly.
Interactive Futures (VB 500 rank: 356)
Offices were open with limited staff.
IconMedialab (VB 500 rank: 490)
Offices closed today.
Among technology companies with substantial New York operations, though headquartered elsewhere:
IBM Global Services (VB 500 Rank: 1)
According to Laura Keeton, Media Respresentative for IBM Global Services, IBM has a small office in lower Manhattan, but the bulk of its Manhattan-based employees are based in midtown, away from the disaster site. She could not comment on physical losses or injuries. "IBM Global Services is working around the clock to respond to customer requests."
Computer Associates
Michael Kornspan, AVP, Public Relations, told VARBusiness "We were able to reach all 140++of our Manhattan based employees and all are OK." Regarding customer inquiries, Kornspan said, "Only a handful of clients have contacted us to date, but we are mobilizing our client relationship and sales organizations in conjunction with our support and services organizations to reach out to all clients with operations below 14th street in Manhattan, to ask if they require any assistance and to follow-up with that assistance where needed." The company is also actively working with the Red Cross and Salvation Army on relief efforts.