Employees of New York-based integrator Plural, many of whom spent the last two days worrying about the safety of colleagues who were near the World Trade Center (WTC) terrorist attacks, turned to the Web in lieu of telephone lines to get updated information.
The company's headquarters, which is located on Broadway in the vicinity of the WTC, was successfully evacuated when the attacks began, with president and CEO Neil Isford among the last to run out of the building after making sure his staffers were safe.
But the unreliable telephone service in the wake of the tragic events kept many company employees from finding out if their colleagues managed to escape the danger. So the company, which also has offices in Boston, Chicago, Redmond, Wash., Stamford, Conn., and Washington, D.C., posted updated news on its Web site for all employees and colleagues concerned about the fate of the New York-based employees.
"First and most importantly, we successfully evacuated the Broadway office," read a note posted on the site Wednesday morning. "We are still in the process of trying to connect with everyone from the New York office to make sure they made it home safely."
The company said it is planning to set up a private extranet connection from Plural.com so employees could keep in touch with each other and get updated news.
While the building that serves as the headquarters for Plural is reportedly structurally sound, the e-mail noted that it "had windows blown out, so it will be closed for the foreseeable future."
The company is reportedly "developing a number of communication and action plans for the business," in the wake of the destruction. That may include re-opening an office in New Jersey that can support the displaced New York staffers.
Plural, an e-business integrator founded in 1989 as Micro Modeling Associates, focuses the bulk of its business on financial services firms, many of which had locations in and around the World Trade Center.
