UUNET connectivity in Minneapolis, MN

Fri Aug 12 13:15:00 UTC 2005

> Unless there is some sort of crazy story related to why a service 
provider 
> could not keep the lights on, this should have not been an issue with 
> proper operations and engineering.

I'll let others tell you about the rat that caused a
short circuit when Stanford attempted to switch to
backup power. Or the time that fire crews told staff
to evacuate a Wiltel colo near San Jose because of a
backhoe that broke a gas pipe. The staff were prevented
from starting their backup generators after power to 
the neighborhood was cut.

In my opinion, the only way to solve this problem is
to locate colos and PoPs in clusters within a city
and deliver resilient DC power to these clusters from
a central redundant generator plant. The generator plants,
transmission lines and clusters can be engineered for
resiliency. And then the highly flammable and dangerous
quantities of fuel can be localized in a generator plant
where they can be kept a safe distance from residential 
and office buildings.

Unfortunately, to do this sort of thing requires vision
which is something that has been lacking in the network
operations field of late.

--Michael Dillon