ICI restores tech services after storms

Akron firm provides phone connections, Internet, computer networks to locations hit by Katrina, Rita

By Candace Goforth
Beacon Journal business writer

An Akron technology company is helping to pull the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast back into the 21st century.

ICI Networks' wireless networking devices have been deployed throughout the region, bringing phone service, computer networks and Internet connectivity to locations silenced and cut off by the winds and waters of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Several technology firms throughout the country have descended on the Gulf Coast in the weeks since the hurricane, hoping to contribute to the rebuilding effort.

When Katrina swept away the region's communications infrastructure, it left a clean slate for firms to showcase their products and technologies.

Some companies have tried to compete directly for government contracts, but that was never ICI's approach, said company President Brian Casto.

Instead of pursuing the big federal contracts, ICI has pursued, and won, partnerships with the big national companies that regularly do business with the government.

ICI Networks' products in the gulf region, for example, were brought there by Lockheed and IBM.

“Typically, people don't win these kinds of projects when events happen,” said Casto, one of the engineers responsible for developing Wi-Fi technology with the former Telxon startup Aironet, which was later acquired by Cisco. “They win (contracts) ahead of the event. They prove the technology before there is a need.”

No one could have predicted a need like the one created by Katrina.

In Louisiana and Mississippi, the hurricane initially knocked out 2.8 million phone lines, more than 1,600 cell-phone towers and more than 420,000 cable TV connections that also can serve as Internet links, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

Within days of the disaster, ICI Networks, which describes itself as a multimillion-dollar company, shipped two of its portable wireless networking units to the region. Casto said the units ended up at the hotel across from the Superdome, where they served to help New Orleans officials place their first phone calls.

The situation in the gulf emphasized the value of Internet-based technologies and their ability to re-establish links with the outside world during a disaster.

Teams from large companies, private groups and the military converged on the Gulf Coast to set up spontaneous wireless networks without any government mandate to do so.

The volunteers installed donated satellite equipment on the rooftops of buildings and established Wi-Fi hot spots, enabling people to connect with family and friends using e-mail on lap-top computers.

But ICI's products are more specialized than the networks set up by the volunteers.

For example, the company's MIPTAC (Mobile IP Tactical Advantage Case) is a device roughly the size of a beer cooler that allows technicians in the field to set up wireless networks virtually anywhere, using a satellite link-up or surrounding Wi-Fi. The portable MIPTACs, with a Cisco router inside and a miniature telescoping tower and antenna on the outside, are in use by the Army. The unit also comes with an optional 4.9 gigahertz public safety band for use by first responders.

ICI Networks also offers a number of other wireless technology solutions, including a product aimed at the emergency medical field.

As FEMA, major cities and other public entities work to prepare themselves for the next unforeseen calamity, they're keeping ICI Networks busy.

“These major natural disasters have accelerated this portion of our business,” Casto said. “We are on a growth curve that is exponential.”

Candace Goforth can be reached at 330-996-3175 or cgoforth@thebeaconjournal.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.