clipped from: www.oreillynet.com   
Wednesday February 28, 2007
In the financial world, the big news today is the worldwide drop in stock prices, including the worst performance in the United States since the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. But there seems to be an interesting computer story too. During the tense afternoon in the U.S., Dow computers fell behind and failed to reflect the full extent of stock declines.

When we hear more about the computer systems, it may provide lessons for emergency management in a number of areas, including local and national government responses to disasters. The incident shows that information systems are at their most strained–and in the hardest ways to anticipate–just at the times when the public asks the most from them, and needs information most urgently.