Helicopters still circle in low, tight loops over the Pentagon, the White House and other prominent buildings here. But the businesses and residents of the nation's capital are taking small steps toward what is somewhat apologetically called "normalcy."

Local solution providers said they derive feelings of comfort and patriotism by aiding clients affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist assault on the Pentagon.

While helicopters circled over D.C., last week, local solution providers found feelings of comfort and patriotism by aiding those affected by the attacks.

Executives at Fairfax, Va.-based AMS, Alexandria, Va.-based Riptech and other Washington-area integration firms said they have received requests for help from Pentagon clients after the attack. AMS, for one, received a request for help with systems repairs from the U.S. Army's Defense Supply Service-Washington (DSSW).

"We have replaced some software and hardware damaged [in the Pentagon attack]," said Alan Rogers, senior vice president and general manager of AMS' federal defense group.

Some of the affected computers run DSSW's electronic Standard Procurement System (SPS), which in 1998 digitized the paper-intensive process of contract writing. The Windows NT-based server that supported the SPS applications was in a damaged area of the Pentagon, so AMS staff located two Sun Solaris-based servers elsewhere in the building and configured them to run the applications while the NT server was being evaluated and repaired.

AMS also provided "logistical support" for the USS Comfort, a hospital ship sent to New York to give rescue workers at the World Trade Center a place to shower, eat and rest, Rogers said.

Other AMS federal clients have sought training, equipment and general support in the aftermath of the attack, Rogers said. He declined to name the customers but said they're under the aegis of the Defense Department. AMS also is making its office space here and in nearby Alexandria available to displaced Pentagon workers, he added.

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Plano, Texas-based EDS, which has a $6.9 billion IT contract with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, said many of its military clients are among those missing at the site of the Pentagon crash. Some 60 EDS staffers who were at the Pentagon during the attack have been accounted for, said a company spokeswoman.

EDS' first step in the recovery focused on securing alternate work space for some customers, the spokeswoman said. The systems integrator also has offered data backup, storage and help-desk services.

In the wake of the terrorist attack, some federal clients have contacted solution provider Riptech for help with securing their networks, said Amit Yoran, co-founder, president and CEO of the company.

"Clients have expressed to us their increased sense of awareness of the threat of cyberterrorism," Yoran said. Some customers were directly affected by the Pentagon attack or "are now involved in some way, shape or form" with repairs to the building and its IT infrastructure, he said.

Yoran declined to name the federal clients but said Riptech's work with partners on the GSA schedule has led to requests for help.

Dozens of Riptech's 150-person staff are working on repairs and enhancements to computer networks for federal customers, Yoran said.

Washington-area solution providers said they expect it to take weeks, if not months, to bring the Pentagon's IT systems completely back online.

AMS' Rogers, who retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1993, said he anticipates that AMS will need to provide extra support to its Pentagon clients for at least three months.

"We have the best clients in the world," he said. "Their work is some of the most important work possible."