From USA Today:

Ugly as she was, Katrina may have given

BellSouth a rare opportunity: the chance to turn one of the oldest


cities in the USA into a showcase for 21st-century communications.

Talk of how New Orleans could look some day may seem fanciful considering it may take years to make the city livable again.

Assuming New Orleans rises again, a city rebuilt

from the ground up could boast the best voice, data and video

communications infrastructure in the nation, says Bill Smith,

BellSouth’s chief technology officer.