Delta Computer Disaster Should Serve As Wake-Up Call

More than 1,800 flights were cancelled in two days after a power outage in Atlanta caused Delta Airlines’ computer to crash. The problems should serve to highlight a pervasive problem in corporate America, where inadequate capital investment in systems as fundamental as Delta’s badly outdated computer system is par for the course. Investment in equipment and structures fell during the second quarter, while at the same time research-and-development spending rose at an annualized rate of 4.8 percent, a record.