Gates Group isn't counting on partners to make sure connections are secure, says chief technology officer Heasley.

The disaster made Burnham realize just how much the Port Authority wasn't prepared for, despite extensive disaster planning. Though the Port Authority had a chain of command so people would know who was in charge if a key leader was missing, the IT department didn't. Burnham says that information is something everyone needs to have so they know who will set priorities in a crisis. "In an emergency, everyone goes into a controlling mode," he says. "People did some good decision-making that day. But at some point, someone needs to be in charge, to say that we need not order 500 new PCs."

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'Bravest Man I Ever Saw' "Once on the stairs, there was a sense of relief. Just doing something made you feel better. The helpless feeling of grabbing a table when a 110-story building feels like it will topple can't be described. The exit began orderly and ended that way. There was no great sense of panic. Just that we all wanted to get down. ... On the 14th floor, we had to stop to allow a fireman to pass as he walked up. It was now about 100 degrees, with stale air. They turned off the vents, or they failed, but it kept the smoke from getting worse. But here we were, 14 floors to our rescue, and him with 66-plus to his destination. He was dressed in full gear: oxygen tank, hat, jacket. His face will always remain in my dreams, his family will remain in my prayers. He was the bravest man I ever saw." -- Guy Yasika, who walked down from the 43rd-floor cafeteria of One World Trade Center, which later collapsed

These kind of re-evaluations are going on around the country, even at companies far from Ground Zero. Half of companies have significantly altered their approaches or policies related to business-continuity planning since Sept. 11, according to an InformationWeek Research survey of more than 1,500 business-technology managers. Four of 10 say their companies take business-continuity plans more seriously now.

Some businesses are like the Gates Group of Companies in Denver, which is completely rethinking its approach to minimize disruptions to its business. Where managers once were content to back up key data on tape, they're now considering the full breadth of their operations, from protecting applications to maintaining communication with suppliers and distributors. With 14,000 employees, 46 factories, and 24 distribution centers in 19 countries, Gates, a subsidiary of Tomkins LLC, is one of the world's largest manufacturers of rubber industrial components. Before Sept. 11, Gates had standard backup and recovery using Storage Technology Corp. tape libraries. About the same time Gates was changing how it thought about business continuity, StorageTek was waking up to the idea that it needed to sell a process, not just pitch products, says Joseph Heasley, Gates' chief technology officer.

Gates wants every aspect of its business to be more reliable, especially its communication with distribution partners around the world. Heasley is working closely with StorageTek and network-access providers AT&T, Cisco Systems, and Qwest Communications to make Gates' network infrastructure less vulnerable to hacker attacks, including any executed through a partner's network connection. Heasley wants to upgrade the recoverability of Gates' back-end enterprise systems but also bring applications and databases into its process of continual backup. For orders, Gates still relies on electronic data interchange. The company needs to be convinced it can remain up all the time and fend off cyberattacks before it will start taking orders using the Internet. "It's got be backed up, too, and we can't count on all the outside partners," Heasley says.

Even businesses that had extensive business-continuity plans are paying more attention to the planning process. In many cases, they've reconsidered their tolerance for risk in a disaster, the cost of a business shutdown, and the true cost of keeping their business running.