When Hurricane Ivan tore through the Florida panhandle a year ago, J.T. Young was one of hundreds of residents whose homes were damaged. So when Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, the regional CIO at Gulf Power Co. was quick to lend support to some of the more than 600 workers at sister company Mississippi Power Co. who either lost their homes or suffered significant property damage.

"My home was damaged by Ivan, so I know first-hand what it"s like to be in that situation," said Young. He was one of more than 500 workers from Pensacola, Fla.-based Gulf Power who traveled to Mississippi to distribute food and other supplies to displaced Mississippi Power workers.

Roughly half of Gulf Power"s 46-person IT staff was among those who traveled to Mississippi, assisting in restoring Gulfport, Miss.-based Mississippi Power"s telecommunications and fiber-optic network.

With virtually all voice communications knocked out in Mississippi by Katrina, Gulf Power sent 65 satellite phones to Mississippi Power to enable the utility to communicate with Atlanta-based Southern Co. -- its parent company -- as well as with other suppliers and business partners to assist with power restoration, said Young. The phones also allowed Mississippi Power executives to take part in Crispit, which stands for "critical information process in IT," enabling business and IT leaders from Mississippi Power and Southern Co. to hold conference calls twice daily to coordinate restoration efforts.

During those conference calls, the officials discuss different facets of the restoration process, such as the number of generators that might be needed to run Mississippi Power"s communications system or the percentage of customers still without electricity.

"One of the things we do in IT at Gulf Power and at Southern Co. is to begin our [hurricane] preparations fairly early," said Young. For instance, Gulf Power set up a storm center three days before Katrina reached the mainland and activated the center the day before the storm made landfall.

As of Sept. 10, all of Mississippi Power"s 195,000 customers able to receive power, excluding homes that were destroyed or severely damaged, had their service restored.