Kevin Prendergast, vice president of northeast operations at American Medical Response (AMR), the nation's largest ambulance service, said his workers often lacked links to disaster recovery officials during the company's efforts to help out after Katrina hit. AMR sent 67 ambulances to New Orleans following the hurricane only to find spotty cellular service and incompatibility between emergency radios.

"It was a tremendous burden on command folks," Prendergast said. "Command capability is impossible without communications capability. Communications is the core of what we need."

Because 85 percent of the nation's critical infrastructure is controlled by the private sector, businesses need to develop the concept of a "trusted partner" when building communications that can survive disasters, said Tom Lesica, senior vice president of global technology and operations at Avaya. Such a partner would likely carry a seal of approval from a third party to ensure that its equipment could survive a disaster, he said.

None of the panelists, including Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, a Republican, called on federal or state governments to certify trusted partners or legislate such cooperation.

"I suspect companies want to do this on their own," Healey said. "There has to be a degree of civic-mindedness. It's not just the profitability factor."