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.