As Mardi Gras was celebrated in a still-recovering New Orleans last week, more than a dozen IT managers in Louisiana and Mississippi said they are rushing to build more resilient systems, improve their companies' communications capabilities and apply the many lessons they learned from Katrina.

There's a particularly strong push to increase data backup capabilities, especially via online replication to other sites, and to set up wireless and satellite communications systems, the IT managers said. And the work is being done with a sense of urgency because of worries about this year's hurricane season, even while many employers continue to struggle to find IT staffers to replace workers who left the region and haven't returned.

"I have a great concern for this coming hurricane season," said James Mehaffey, manager of the business continuity program at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana. "In the Gulf Coast, our infrastructure is severely weakened."

Many of the people leading the efforts to reinforce IT systems and networks have already been through a lot, both professionally and personally.

For instance, the home of David Scripter, regional IT manager of URS Corp.'s New Orleans operations, was located near a breached canal in the city. "I lost my house and pretty much everything I own," Scripter said, although he added that at least he, his wife and their three young children were all safe and sound.