COVID-19 vs. our Networks

Mon Mar 16 14:40:18 UTC 2020

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 impact that 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 opinions expressed here are my own and do not represent my employer or
their views.*

- Mike Bolitho

On Sun, Mar 15, 2020 at 6:12 PM Stephen Fulton <sf at lists.esoteric.ca> wrote:

> In $dayjob I constantly see the lack of understanding of the difference
> between what the Internet is and what a path engineered private circuit
> is (eg. pseudowire, wave, whatever).  The latest fight is over SD-WAN
> and those who think it will replace MPLS entirely and they won't need
> those expensive routers anymore.  But I digress.
>
> Mark's comment and others like it are the correct approach Mike.  If
> your private WAN is most critical, then invest in and manage user
> complaints about poor Internet service.  ISP's, IXP's and CDN's are not
> going to twist themselves into knots to solve your problems, even if
> someone calls it an emergency.  Sorry.
>
> Stephen
>
>
> On 2020-03-15 02:01, Mark Tinka wrote:
> >
> >
> > On 14/Mar/20 19:14, Mike Bolitho wrote:
> >
> >>     /
> >>     /
> >>
> >> I work for a hospital, we ran into some issues last week due to
> >> congestion that was totally outside of our control that was off of our
> >> WAN (Thanks Call Of Duty). Now, the issue we ran into was not mission
> >> critical at the time but it was still disruptive. As more and more
> >> people are driven home during this time, more and more people will be
> >> using bandwidth intensive streaming and online gaming products. If
> >> more and more TSP coded entities are running into issues, ISPs, IXPs,
> >> and CDNs will be forced to act.
> >
> > Hmmh, if that level of priority is required, I'd probably build my own
> > network, and not rely on public infrastructure like the Internet.
> >
> > Mark.
>
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