COVID-19 vs. our Networks

Tue Mar 17 09:17:16 UTC 2020

On 16/Mar/20 16:40, Mike Bolitho wrote:

> I think there's a bit of a misunderstanding of what I'm trying to say
> here. We have dual private lines from two Tier I providers. These
> interconnect all major hospitals and our data centers. We also have a
> third metro connection that connects things regionally. We have DIA on
> top of that. I think people are vastly underestimating just how much
> $aaS there is within the medical field. TeleDoc, translation services,
> remote radiologists, the way prescriptions get filled, how staffing
> works, third party providers basically hoteling within our facilities,
> critical staff VPNed in because the government has locked things down,
> etc. Then there's things that we don't use but I'm sure other
> providers do, GoToMeeting, O365, VaaS, etc.There's no practical way to
> engineer your WAN to facilitate dozens of connections to these services.
>
> This extends beyond just hospitals as well. Fire departments, police
> departments, water treatment etc. Regardless of whether or not those
> entities planned well(I think we did), the government should and will
> step in if critical services are degraded. And for what it's worth,
> Stephen, I know how things are built within the ISP world. I spent
> four years there. That doesn't change the fact that we're possibly
> heading into uncharted waters when it comes to utilization and the
> impactthat will have on $aaS products that are interwoven into every
> single vertical, including entities that fall under TSP, critical
> national security and emergency preparedness functions, including
> those areas related to safety, maintenance of law and order, and
> public health.It's easy for all you guys to sit here and armchair
> quarterback other people's planning but when things really start to
> degrade, all bets are off.If you don't believe that, just look at the
> news. States are literally shutting down private businesses
> (restaurants, bars, night clubs, private schools) and banning people
> from associating in groups of larger than 50.

The Internet has infiltrated every industry, every business, and every
business model.

While it's a great way to connect a lot of people and things at scale
for the lowest cost possible, there are some industries that still
require a certain caliber of reliability that the public Internet may
not be best suited to provide.

In your case, I am not sure I have an answer for you, unfortunately. The
public Internet is what it is, mostly best-effort. Your applications and
use-cases certainly deserve better than that. I'm not sure how to
achieve that as your industry shoves more and more activity into the
public Internet domain, for one reason or another.

Mark.
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