Wires and blinking lights in a University of Maryland lab symbolize a marriage between the regular wired phone system and the Internet.

It's an arranged marriage orchestrated by a Rockville, MD company, TeleContinuity, and the University of Maryland.

After a storm or disaster, normal phone service isn't available until damaged wires, switches, or computers are fixed. But TeleContinuity's system is available instantly.

Patent-pending software and what are called Points of Presence re-route calls around phone line outages using Voice over IP, also known as Internet Phone. Your voice travels through the Internet in packets just like an email. A call can move back and forth between the wired world and the Internet several times before it reaches you.

"That's what makes it survivable," says Roy Pinchot, CEO of TeleContinuity. "The fact that we're able to move calls through both systems at any point throughout the country and two the fact that we don't have any centralized points through which all the calls go, there's no single point of failure."

Adding the Internet means the system will work as long as there's a connection - to either the wired system or to the Internet. That means computers, cellphones, even laptops in a Starbucks, could receive calls forwarded by TeleContinuity. Subscribers must register through a website or toll free number.

Dr. Michael Dellomo of the University's Master's in Telecommunications Program is helping test the system: "As soon as the system knows where you are, all your incoming and outgoing calls will be routed to that number. So that from the rest of the World's point of view, you are still at your office. Your office might be a pile of rubble, but the rest of the world doesn't need to know that."

The major arteries to keep phone service going, the wired system and the Internet, are in place. What is new is how the signals will be routed.

Eventually, about 100 Points of Presence will be installed all over the country to provide coverage for major cities.

Research and Development money was provides by Maryland's Industrial Partnerships programs (MIPS).