The Wall Street Journal had an article Thursday about the problems executives with large multi-national companies are having re-engineering their telecommunication networks. None of this should come as a surprise to long-time readers of any of the networking lists. Just in Case, Many Firms Work to Set Up Redundant Telecommunications Systems By DENNIS K. BERMAN Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Thursday December 20 2001 John Smiley typically wears suits. But as the executive in charge of telecommunications for Lufthansa Systems' North American operations, he recently put on jeans and work boots to inch his way into a dirty train tunnel beneath New York City's Grand Central Terminal. His mission: to inspect new fiber-optic cables that snake through abandoned gas pipes, ensuring that they are running on a safe, separate path from a set of nearby fibers carrying the German airline's reservations data. I've done something similar in the past. But it doesn't solve the problem. Even if the sales person promises you diversity, even if you physically inspect every meter of fiber, even if you pay more, after six months your network won't be diverse. On a long-term basis, how do you check carriers are keeping their promises? Are there any commercial products which let subscribers automatically check DLR's from carriers for changes and conflicts? Since DLR's only show the active components in a circuit, has anyone developed a product to check for passive and location risks?