Its all risk and cost. You possibly couldn't have spent enough to stop this event. The outside plant wasn't at fault, highly motivated and informed individuals were. Pretty much a non issue, IMHO. Best, Martin On 4/9/09, Charles Wyble <charles@thewybles.com> wrote:
Seriously though I want to start some discussion around outside plant protection. This isn't the middle of the ocean or desert after all.
There were multiple fiber cuts in a major metropolitan area, resulting in the loss of critical infrastructure necessary to many peoples daily lives (though twitter stayed up so it's all good). :) It would appear that this was a deliberate act by one or more individuals, who seemed to have a very good idea of where to strike which resulted in a low cost, low effort attack that yielded significant results.
So allow me to think out loud for a minute....
1) Why wasn't the fiber protected by some sort of hardened/locked conduit? Is this possible? Does it add extensive cost or hamper normal operation?
2) Why didn't an alarm go off that someone had entered the area? It was after business hours, presumably not in response to a trouble ticket, and as such a highly suspicious action. Does it make sense for these access portals to have some sort of alarm? I mean there is fiber running through and as such it could carry the signaling. Would this be a massive cost addition during construction?
3) From what I understand it's not trivial to raise a manhole cover. Most likely can't be done by one person. Can they be locked? Or were the carriers simply relying on obscurity/barrier to entry?
-- Martin Hannigan martin@theicelandguy.com p: +16178216079 Power, Network, and Costs Consulting for Iceland Datacenters and Occupants