The role of the telecommunications industry as part of disaster response and recovery was a focus of the Voice on the Net, or VON, conference in Boston this week, where speakers and participants also touched on the companion topic of user rights in the wake of Hurricane Katrina .

Talks from an executive from BellSouth, the CEO of Vonage Holdings and those who have Weblogs that were active in Katrina's aftermath focused on the telecommunications industry's emergency preparedness and response. BellSouth is a key service provider in the affected area and after having communications cut off for two days, and the first outgoing call made by someone from the New Orleans mayor's office was on a Vonage softphone account.

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The hurricane devastated the northern Gulf Coast of the U.S. three weeks ago, and its rains caused levee breaches that swamped nearly all of New Orleans. Telecommunications were hampered at least initially, but played a crucial role in linking survivors to loved ones, as did the Internet, where blogs were key in conveying information, speakers noted in the first two days of the conference.

Some of the talks tended to laud VoIP for its ability to withstand disasters better than traditional telecommunications, but Bill Smith, the chief technology officer of BellSouth discounted that notion, calling it a "horrible disservice."

"VON is a wonderful thing, VoIP is a wonderful thing ... but it has to run on something," he said, adding that the biggest problem with communications in the affected states was the loss of power. "I think it would be a disservice to the industry to say VoIP runs no matter what -- it requires the same infrastructure."

And even being well prepared with a robust infrastructure and technologies that are able to be more quickly recover provides no guarantee. Since Hurricane Andrew flattened parts of south Florida in August 1992, BellSouth has contended with the aftermath of 22 hurricanes, Smith said. "We have a lot of experience dealing with hurricanes, but this one was not like any we've ever seen."

Despite his cautions, industry experts at VON conveyed the opinion that advanced telecommunications technologies can, and should, be more widely offered by carriers and that the industry overall can do more both in times of emergency and in ordinary times.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.