BEDMINSTER, N.J. -- AT&T's one-of-a-kind Network Disaster Recovery (NDR) team this week begins a rigorous exercise to recover data and voice services during a simulated disaster that damages a switching center, the heart of a communications network.The AT&T NDR team played a critical role in recovering service following the tragic attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York last year. The collapse of the towers and the collateral damage that occurred affected AT&T's Local Network Services capabilities for business customers in lower Manhattan.NDR personnel supported the recovery of those services in two days and provided emergency communications for the relief effort. As a result, AT&T business customers were able to participate in the re-opening of the New York financial markets the following week. The team set up a recovery location in northern New Jersey and remained active until October 24, 2001."A recent survey we commissioned shows that many businesses still are unprepared for disasters," said Eric Shepcaro, vice president, AT&T Business Continuity Services. "We are using our expertise in business continuity and disaster recovery to help companies continue to operate, even in the event of a disaster. Businesses want to ensure the overall safety of their employees, and overall availability, recoverability and security of their networks, applications and data."According to the survey, about one in four companies do not have disaster recovery plans in place despite the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. And of the companies that do have plans, almost 20 percent have not tested those plans in the last five years. An executive summary of the survey on business continuity trends is available at http://www.att.com/presskit.AT&T Corp.