Microsoft, Others Pledge Financial Assistance

A number of large corporations, including Microsoft Corp., General Electric Co. and Cisco Systems Inc., have stepped up to the plate in the wake of Tuesdays attacks in New York and Washington, pledging financial and technical assistance to help the recovery efforts across the country.

Microsoft said this week that it had donated $10 million in cash and technical services to support the relief and recovery efforts in New York and other areas affected by the tragic events of Sept. 11.

Cisco, another hi-tech company, has promised $4 million, while industrial conglomerate General Electric has pledged $10 million to a fund that will assist the families of the firefighters, police officers and emergency rescue personnel who perished while responding to the attack on the World Trade Center.

A Microsoft spokesman said the Redmond, Wash., software company will donate $5 million in cash to the "September 11th Fund" established by The United Way of New York City and New York Community Trust.

The other $5 million will take the form of technical services--including Microsoft Consulting Services--volunteer hours and software to help the recovery effort and organizations serving people in the affected areas, he said.

Microsoft has also begun an outreach program to local, state and federal agencies; nonprofit agencies; and other community-based organizations to identify areas where technology assistance could make a difference.

The company has also asked NPower New York, a recently created non-profit technology service provider, to help assess and dispatch technology services through its network of local agencies.

The spokesman said Microsofts staff in New York are doing all they can for its customers there and elsewhere. "Some staff members and their families are even burning software CDs at home and at their offices in an effort to help get their customers up and running as soon as possible. We are doing anything-and everything-we can to help them right now," he added.

Microsofts president and chief operating officer, Rick Belluzzo, said in a prepared statement, "We want to support the recovery effort in every way that we can."

Microsoft is also encouraging its 44,000 employees to make personal donations, which the company will match up to $12,000 a year, he added.