BBN (GTE) Suffers another major power problem.

Fri Aug 8 22:02:23 UTC 1997

At 12:21 PM -0500 on 97-8-8, Robert T. Nelson wrote:

> As more and more companies come to rely on the Internet like they rely on
> the PSTN, we will be expected to have bomb-resistant networks. (not
> bomb-proof, mind you), and we will have to be compensated for this level
> of redundancy. This will day will come as we place more financial
> transactions on the 'Net.

Ironically, one of the categories of end-users who really
need dependable and uninterrupted net service right now are
the electric power companies. They are required under
federal mandate to conduct all their power-brokering
business over the public networks. In other words, when
Northeast Utilities sells some megawatts to Con Ed, the
transaction has to be scheduled on the Internet. So we're
set up for a situation where a failure of the power grid
brings down a part of the Net, and the Net outage impedes
restoration of the power grid.

------------------------------------------------------
Brian Hayes                           bhayes at amsci.org