With hurricanes and transit bombings top-of-mind, vendors at this week's Maritime Security Conference talked up supply chain security technologies, while customers pointed to implementation hurdles that include costs, complexities, and the still emerging status of industry standards and regulations.

As Hurricane Rita geared up to strike the Texas shoreline, speakers at the show in New York peppered their presentations with remarks around the urgent need to develop supply chain and other IT systems capable of dealing with all types of natural and manmade disasters.

On the one hand, the success of video surveillance cameras in catching four of the London subway bombers represents a great recent example of how technology can help, according to several attendees.

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But needs for new technologies remain rampant, and some customers expressed very specific requirements. At the close of one session, for instance, Harold W. Neil Jr., director of transportation for the state of New Jersey, said that sensor technologies available today still aren't adequate for sniffing out the sorts of stuff that might show up in biochemical terrorist attacks.

By and large, corporate customers want supply chain security technology that will let them comply with government requests for information sharing, while at the same time protecting product data from their competitors, said Thomas Wilson, managing director of Global Trade Management for systems integrator BearingPoint.

"[Some companies believe that] this data is sensitive [if it lands] in the wrong hands, and that it shouldn't become part of the public domain," according to Wilson.

But at the same time, growing numbers of corporations are working with each other and government agencies to create a single "truly end-to-end solution" for port and supply chain security, said Sandra Scott, director of international relations for logistics specialist Yellow Roadway Corp.

"One goal [for corporations] would be to get their shipments expedited [through customs agencies]," according to Scott. "Companies also want to be able to provide their data in any format."