Sept. 11 Echoes Throughout New York's High-Tech Sector

Local solution providers say new business remains scarce as area companies continue in a recovery mode. And vendors such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Compaq Computer have filed statements with regulators to report significant business disruption in the weeks and months after the attack.

Marlene Brill, president of Digitask, a New York-based consultant and solution provider, said while some aspects of business have returned stronger than ever, new customers and projects are almost impossible to find.

"For some of my clients affected by Sept. 11,people who were there and can't get back into their building, or their building is just gone,they have had a really hard time. They never expected to lose what they lost. It's just been harrowing. They are not 100 percent recovered to date," Brill said. "They are working very hard. They are trying to recuperate from all the losses,not just the material losses, but also the people."

Much of Digitask's work has focused on helping companies affected by the disaster install new hardware and software, get it running and make it more reliable, Brill said. Yet some clients, she said, "feel the manufacturers could do more for them, but I'm not quite sure what they want. It's a business."

For others, the impact is felt in less tangible ways, such as a greater sense of teamwork.

"I think everybody realized at a certain point that, 'Hey, we are all in this together, and we are all going to help each other,' " said Jim Magliozzo, client delivery executive for EDS in New York.

"We were able to see the World Trade Center from our building," Magliozzo said. "We saw planes, we saw smoke, we saw the buildings disappear. We saw people walking by our office covered in soot and trying to escape."

The systems integrator helped clients such as American Express and J.Crew get back up and running following the towers' collapse.

IT companies also are acknowledging new business risks and uncertainties since the attacks. Last week, in its quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, HP described a new "risk factor" category.

"The terrorist attacks that took place in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, were unprecedented events that have created many economic and political uncertainties, some of which may materially harm our business and results of operations," HP reported. "The long-term effects on our business of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are unknown."