Jeff Roberts, IT director at London-based Norton Rose, which lost some 7,000 files stored in the London facility, said the law firm was already setting up electronic archiving systems prior to the fire.

Norton Rose is using Clariion and Centera storage systems from EMC Corp. and document management software from Interwoven Inc. to create an archival system that is projected to go live in a couple of months, Roberts said. At that point, Norton Rose may no longer need to keep any rec-ords on paper, he said.

Neal Hennegan, director of technology at Gilsbar Inc. in Covington, La., has been looking for alternatives to Iron Mountain since Hurricane Katrina struck last year.

Gilsbar files stored in an Iron Mountain facility in Metairie, La., were not sent inland to Baton Rouge prior to Katrina as Hennegan requested, leaving them locked in an inaccessible building for a week after the storm.

Hennegan said he hasn't yet found an alternative that is as cost-effective as Iron Mountain or that can deliver media on demand in less than 24 hours.