These days, Amex's international payments are so routine that many can be handled without human involvement. These were processed automatically by the main American Express Bank computer at an EDS center in Britain throughout Tuesday. But by 7pm, when Ramaswamy and colleagues finally had the computers in New Jersey linked back to the mainframe in Britain, thousands of transfers that did need human authorization had piled up. Working until 11pm, the team processed all those transactions.
Although the backup center in New Jersey was equipped with the advanced communication and security equipment needed to transfer huge amounts of money, it was cut off from all other information. There was no television, radio or Internet browser. The backup site was set up to receive email, but the e-mail server in 7 World Trade had been destroyed Tuesday afternoon when that building collapsed.
"I was totally cut off and didn't know anything other than something bad had happened," Ramas-wamy said. His only information came from telephone calls, when the land lines or cell phones were working. "I was on the phone with a guy in Singapore when he said that he was seeing our office falling on CNN. It was terrible."
Now that the basic systems are in place, even harder work is beginning to turn what had been meant as a temporary setup into the bank's home for many months ahead.
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