"Katrina and many of the hurricanes that hit Florida last year alone sort of nailed this home for us," said Les Auerbach, director of computer services for the city of Gainesville, Fla. "It was evident that we needed to rethink, for continuity of business, how we were doing this."

Gainesville's upgraded disaster recovery plans include building a hardened data center that's capable of withstanding nature's fury. The facility will be built out of concrete and designed to be less susceptible to wind damage than conventional buildings are, according to Auerbach. "The idea is that if a hurricane does come through, this center is not going to move," he said.

Auerbach has met with architects to begin drawing up specifications for the data center, which is expected to be shared by the municipal government and a city-owned utility that provides water, gas and electrical services to residents. He said he doesn't have a firm schedule yet for the project or an estimated cost.

In addition, Gainesville wants to give its employees the ability to work remotely in case operations are disrupted by a storm or a pandemic, such as a flu outbreak. The IT staff is assessing how to proceed on that plan, Auerbach said, adding that the city will have to replace desktop PCs with laptops and ensure that its network security tools can accommodate remote workers.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida is also setting up a hardened data center. Chris Gay, manager of disaster recovery at the Jacksonville-based medical insurer, said it is halfway through a move to a so-called Tier 3 data center that's designed to withstand a Category 5 hurricane. The changeover is scheduled to be completed by the end of October, Gay said, adding that he couldn't say how much the new facility will cost.