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chex5
join:2000-05-24
NorthEnd BOS
clubs:
| I know one place...
I just recently came back to Boston from a pan-America trip to Colorado and back, on my motorcycle. I couldn't help noticing, being the telecomm geek that I am, that in Western Kansas, on Rt. US-36, things are pretty remote, and the fiber poles, on both side of the highway were pretty obvious and clearly marked with the rubber-capped poles. There are repeater stations setup, with power lines pulled in from god only knows where, to repeat the fiber signal every 10-20 or so miles. (purely conjecture, please correct me if I am wrong about that. ) If you look at the Qwest map, the link from Kansas City to Denver, Im fairly sure ran along that route.
It wouldn't take a genius to map out some places fiber runs, or even get some more highly sensitive places. However, isnt the Net' , ATM networks, and the like supposed to be resiliant and self-healing? What about all the 90% of dark fiber that is out there? Surely with the multitudes of redundant networks across this country, even a major strike against the fiber infrastructure should not be too much of a problem to re-route around.
- Chex
[text was edited by author 2003-07-08 13:53:40] | |
kapil
The Kapil
join:2000-04-26
Chicago, IL
| You are right. Our infrastructure is extremely resilient by design....mostly because it was built by geeks who know and understand these things. In case of an attack, the problem won't be a technological one...the hardest part will be convincing the suits on what course of action to take. The article mentioned an exec from the power company...the idiot isn't worried about national security...he's worried about an attack on HIS part of the national infrastructure that HE has to pay to secure...and pay to rebuild in case of an attack....all he cares about is his bonus and preventing bad PR. It is hard to get people like this to call things rationally. Unfortunately, these are the people buying politicians so their voices get heard, and ours don't.
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::: Do, or do not, there is no try:::»www.kapilville.com | |
RayW
Premium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
clubs:
 ·XMission
| reply to chex5
said by chex5  :
... However, isnt the Net' , ATM networks, and the like supposed to be resiliant and self-healing? What about all the 90% of dark fiber that is out there? Surely with the multitudes of redundant networks across this country, even a major strike against the fiber infrastructure should not be too much of a problem to re-route around.
- Chex
Was is the right word. That was back when the paranoid military (ARPANET) was dictating how to do it. Now we have big business 'running' it, and all they care about is how to save money, and that means consolidation/centralization. Or so I have read.
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I am not lost, I find myself every time. | |
Beeper
Part Of The Problem
join:2001-09-27
Dayton, OH
clubs:
| said by RayW :
Was is the right word. That was back when the paranoid military (ARPANET) was dictating how to do it. Now we have big business 'running' it, and all they care about is how to save money, and that means consolidation /centralization. Or so I have read.
ARPA used big business to build ARPANET. They liked and used suggested improvements of private companies.
»www.dei.isep.ipp.pt/docs/arpa--1.html
Excerpt:
"The Defense Supply Service - Washington (DSS-W) agreed to be a procurement agent for ARPA. At the end of July the Request for Quotation for network IMPs was mailed to 140 potential bidders who had expressed interest in receiving it. Approximately 100 people from 51 companies attended a subsequent bidders' conference. Twelve proposals were actually received by DSS_W comprising 6.6 edge-feet of paper and presenting an awesome evaluation task for IPT, which more normally awards contracts on a sole source basis. Attempting to evaluate the proposals "strictly by the book", an ARPA-appointed evaluation committee retired to Monterey, California, to carry out their task. ARPA was pleasantly surprised that several of the respondents believed that they could construct a network which performed as much as a factor of five better than the delay constraint given in the RFQ..." (ARPA draft, III-35)
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Guaranteed Fear and Loathing. Abandon all hope. Prepare for the Weirdness. Get familiar with Cannibalism. | |
RayW
Premium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
clubs:
·XMission
| True Beeper, but still it was a system that was designed to resist failure through redundant paths, with profit not being the driving force. Back in the 60's and 70's we were still setting up for the nuclear holocaust that would fragment our infrastructure.
The last time I looked, the alternate paths were being consolidated since no one believes (or cares) that the fears of the 60's and 70's can happen. Of course, all that I learned back then and in later years could be wrong and just a figment of corporate and governmental mind manipulation  .
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I am not lost, I find myself every time. | |
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