Katrina: directNIC Stays Online - Blog + Images

Wed Aug 31 13:47:43 UTC 2005

For those that don't know, directNIC as well as some other NOCs are
located together in a high-rise in New Orleans.

Despite everyone's warnings (including my own!) some tough-as-nails guys
from directNIC stayed behind to battle the hurricane and keep the
networks online.

[snip]
While the safety of our staff is paramount and most were safely
evacuated, a small group of key personnel stayed behind to safeguard our
data center and make sure that all of our services remained online and
stable. During this time, while we spent a great deal of effort battling
broken windows, incoming water, and flying debris, our hosting and
registration services remained online and worked flawlessly.
[/snip]

Link: http://www.directnic.com/katrina.php (Pictures too!)

It also mentions the power shortage, and that they are using diesel
generated power.

I remember a week or two ago people were talking about building
redundant datacenters, off-grid power, failure mitigation, etc.

I think if nothing else, this is at least a success story of building a
NOC which can provide critical infrastructure that will survive major
disasters.

--
Regards,
Chris Gilbert