Technology Companies Team Up To Support U.S. Marines

Most people will never receive an urgent call from the United States Marine Corps, let alone one asking for help rebuilding a significant portion of the country following one the greatest natural disasters ever to strike the United States. Michael Gray, however, is not like most people. He received one of many such calls recently in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Gray is president and chief executive officer of Global Relief Technologies (GRT), a company that provides technologies for simplifying the process of collecting and communicating information between headquarters and field operations, typically in disaster situations.

While Gray was watching television coverage of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and contemplating how GRT could provide the most benefit for relief efforts, the call came in from the Marines. The matter was urgent: could he send someone to equip the elements of the 2nd United States Marine Expeditionary Force with GRT technology within the next 24 hours?