We asked our sources for specifics on telecom response to the WTC disaster. The anecdotes we got back -- trunks patched over wireless optics, generators rented from movie production companies, Virtual PBX unifying a dispersed corporate staff -- restore "war story" to its original meaning.
Wireless Text Messaging: Two-Way Survived; One-Way Did Not
Wireless messaging worked in downtown Manhattan where one-way paging and cell phone voice failed, simply because Mobitex transmitters - those supporting Cingular's wireless two-way data service - were not located atop the World Trade Center. Cingular said that traffic on its system surged almost 60% in the post-attack hours. SkyTel, however, lost 30% of its capacity, and Arch Wireless lost five of its New York frequencies, leaving 50,000 paging subscribers out of touch. The one-way paging systems did have transmitters atop the towers, covering a wide area with its relatively low-bandwidth medium.
BLEC EurekaGGN Dragged in Backup
EurekaGGN (New York, NY - 212-404-5000, www.eurekaggn.com) is a converged BLEC (via the merger of Eureka Broadband and Gillette Global Network ) whose NOC at 39 Broadway went dead with the damage to Con Ed's power grid on September 11th. It services 2,000 small businesses and 200 fiber-optic-cabled "lit" buildings in the New York/New Jersey area with high-speed Internet access and telephone service, and in accordance with standard state of emergency procedures, waits in line behind hospital and medical facilities (911), government and municipal services, and financial institutions before having its system restored.
So it was left to EurekaGGN's CEO Joe Gillette and COO Raul Martynek, when the power failed, to locate a generator to keep their customers' voice and Internet links open. Through the Yellow Pages, they quickly found an Upper East Side company that provides flatbed truck generators for movie sets. They reserved it on Gillette's credit card.
EurekaGGN received the unit at its midtown office the next morning. A team led by Joe and Raul then started the long drive downtown, clearing numerous police checkpoints, until they arrived at the large building where EurekaGGN's NOC occupies the 19th floor, only to realize that the building was locked and they didn't have a key.
In a moment from a bad comedy movie, they discovered a hidden building key - whether under the welcome mat or a potted plant, they won't say - and let themselves into the dark building. The team had to run cable from the generator to the basement and then climb 19 flights of stairs in the dark to begin the systems work and air conditioner de-mucking to ensure the network gear wouldn't overheat. With the help of the NYPD, the National Guard, and the cooperation of other New Yorkers, EurekaGGN was able to resume critical communications services for its customers within 24 hours. Three weeks later (at presstime), 95% of service was restored, according to Gillette.
Free-Space Optics Replace Downed Landline Trunks
Free-space optics (through-the-air, line-of-sight transmission of laser-light encoded data normally sent through fiber-optic cable) is one of the technologies being used on rooftops and through office windows in New York City to patch disconnected businesses back onto their data networks and bypass broken Sonet rings. Brought to our attention by maker LightPointe (San Diego, CA - 858-643-5200, www.lightpointe.com), FSO uses lasers and modulators to transmit data across MAN-scale distances of a few city blocks to several miles. Since there are no spectrum licenses to procure, no cables to bury or thread through the building, and in some cases, not even rooftop access to negotiate, these systems can be put in place within hours.
The Rockefeller Group Telecom Services, a converged BLEC formed out of the successful telecom team in New York's Rockefeller Center, was testing LightPointe's equipment before September 11, but sped deployment afterward, when a brokerage client had to move into two floors of a building sublet from its law firm. "The law firm had an Avaya Definity G3 there already, but we added two circuit packs for T1s and 500 lines," says Chris Abrams, senior engineer for Rockefeller Group. Trouble was, Verizon could not provision new T1s in the midst of the emergency.
But as a BLEC, "We have a bunch of phone numbers here at our local site," says Abrams. They also had a lot of spare capacity on their own PBX. "We run Sonet rings to different buildings from our NOC at Rockefeller Center." And to get two T1s' worth of transport to the brokerage, "I got on the roof of our building, drew fiber down from the laser to our switch room, stuck another Flightpath 155 LightPointe laser in the client's window, and got OC3 connectivity." At the brokerage, they broke out two T1s, and attached it into the switch. Abrams reports no problems after ten days of service.
LightPointe can hook up systems moving data at 2.5 gigabits per second for about $50,000, said Baksheesh Ghuman, chief marketing officer.
PBX Offering Pressed into Service
Sun Microsystems, another displaced WTC tenant, turned to AccessLine (Bellevue, WA - 206-621-3500, www.accessline.com) when it realized that AccessLine's outsourced PBX and voicemail offering, already used by some at Sun, would make a great disaster-recovery substitute for its own destroyed PBX. It could even allow its dispersed workforce to be reached at their own old numbers. The solution called for the Sun Manhattan office to contact its long-distance provider and have its old WTC numbers redirected to its "pilot" number at one of AccessLine's switches, on the West Coast. Even before the reroute was accomplished, Sun publicized the emergency number, terminated at AccessLine.
On AccessLine's own programmable switch, the company directory and extension numbers were then mirrored behind the pilot (thus requiring only one phone number in the LD network) and voicemail boxes reestablished. Employees now working out of their homes or temporary quarters can now dial the pilot number to get dial tone, forward or conference calls, and get or send voicemail. Sun management personnel can send broadcast messages to affected employees.
AccessLine is now productizing what was done for Sun into an emergency response service. For a monthly fee, they're offering an always-on pilot emergency number and working extension setup, or a "rapid response" option, in which they hold the configuration in readiness. Combinations are also available, in which certain key personnel have ongoing numbers, and others are held against emergency. Mark Sher of AccessLine confirms that these services are essentially streamlined, contingency-activated versions of their preexisting unified messaging, outsourced PBX, and find-me/follow-me services. The Emergency Response Service will also hunt up called employees on two stored numbers, if desired.
