Storage Firms Join Relief Effort

Several storage and IT suppliers have organized support for disaster relief in South Asia.

Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD), Computer Associates International Inc. (CA) (NYSE: CA), Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), Storage Technology Corp. (StorageTek) (NYSE: STK), and Veritas Software Corp. (Nasdaq: VRTS) are among a handful of technology firms with projects underway to send funds to the devastated regions (see CA Donates $200K for Tsunami Relief and Cisco Sends Quake Relief).

Brocade has launched a Tsunami Disaster Relief program, in which the company is matching employee donations up to $150,000 to The American Red Cross and Unicef.

CA has donated $200,000 to UNICEF, and the company is matching two dollars for every dollar contributed by employees, via the company's gifting program.

Cisco has donated $1 million as a company and also plans to match employee donations of at least $1 million with a corresponding $1 million from its philanthropic investment division, the Cisco Foundation. Cisco's press release says employees have contributed $460,000 so far.Cisco is also working with a group called NetHope that facilitates nongovernmental group projects for bringing technology to needy causes worldwide. Along with satellite operators Eutelsat, Inmarsat Ltd., and other members of NetHope, Cisco is helping fund and supply the delivery of so-called NetRelief Kits, comprising suitcase-sized devices for Internet access via mobile satellite. The kits are meant to help charities such as Save the Children and Relief International with their efforts.

EMC has made an initial donation of $25,000 to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Company spokesman Kevin Kempskie says CEO Joseph Tucci also sent a memo yesterday pledging dollar-for-dollar company matching of any employee contributions. Since then, more than 1,000 emails have come back with pledges, though half the company is still out on vacation.

EMC's not ready to release the figure it's collected, Kempskie says, but he's heard that several thousand dollars have come from the company's Singapore office employees since yesterday.

StorageTek has donated an initial $25,000 to the Red Cross, and a spokeswoman says executives have encouraged employees to donate as well.

Veritas has donated $50,000 to the Red Cross International ResponseFund and plans to match additional employeedonation dollars up to $50,000, says company spokesman Michael Hakkert.So far, none of the firms with relief plans in place have reported being affected directly by the disaster, though they all have offices and personnel in the countries where regions have been devastated.

Many other firms have interests there, too (see Storage Vendors Look East). Some are opting not to donate as a company. Eric Brown, director of worldwide PR for Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP), for instance, says the company has no formal donation as an entity. But the human resources department is directing employees to a range of charities.

As firms return to work following the Christmas-to-New Year's holiday, there may be news of further donations.

Mary Jander, Site Editor, Byte and Switch