by Dr.
Jim Kennedy, NCE, MRP, MBCI, CBRM
We have witnessed over the last three to five years many disasters both in the United States and abroad. Based on what we are hearing from NOAA and the National Weather Service the US is likely to see the same number, if not more, tropical storms this year. Storms like those of the size and ferocity of the type that were so devastating to the southern portion of the US in 2005. So, tropical storms in the US , earthquakes in South America and Asia or volcanoes anywhere else on the globe, we, humanity, face another year of potential emergencies that will need to be responded to.
One thing that all of these natural disasters have in common, besides the tremendous loss of life and disruption to everyday lives of the populous, is that they are immediately followed by an almost total loss of the ability to communicate with the outside world. Power is lost, telephone services are discontinued, and cell phone service is either non-existent or is so congested that it takes hours to get a call through.
So, every year, companies and emergency planners face the problem of providing continued communication before, during, and after a disaster strikes their areas. This year, more than any other time, in the southern part of America small, medium and large company business continuity planners are looking for alternatives to standard communications so that they can keep their business and critical operations running in the aftermath of a devastating event.
I thought that I would present some alternatives for the spectrum of business types so that those business continuity planners would have choices to make informed decisions about backup communications from. Before we discuss back up communications solutions let’s first discuss the failure mechanisms for the communications used during normal times.
Failure
modes
Most
companies continue to rely upon the standard telephone system for their
communications needs. In order to provide this service the telecommunications
carrier, regardless of where you are located in the world, relies upon either
copper wire or fiber optic cables from its central offices to its customers'
premises. This ‘last mile’ can either be above ground, which is in the majority
of cases, or underground. We have all seen those graphic pictures of poles and trees
uprooted and thrown to the ground after a hurricane or tornado have devastated
an area. When this happens that last mile of connectivity between the business
and its telephone provider, Internet provider, or application service provider
are abruptly disconnected and utility power is lost. Underground cables are not
entirely safe from disruption of service either. Many times due to flooding
and/or power loss these underground services are disrupted as well. In the case
of cell phone providers the cell towers receive your cell phone’s call they
then route it to a local central office. These towers or the equipment inside
of them can also be damaged or destroyed as well as the last mile circuits
which connect those cell towers to the local telephone network. So cell phone
service is as tenuous as the regular telephone service when a disaster strikes.
I should also mention that the southeast US is not the only area where loss of
communications services takes place and hurricanes and tornadoes are not the only
natural disasters that disrupt communications and power. In the northeast US
over the last several years ice storms and blizzards have also taken their toll
on communications and power utilities, for example.
Usually
following an event like a tornado, hurricane, blizzard or the like, the
communications and power service providers work very hard to restore service,
however, in most cases we are talking several days if not a week for the
restoration of power and phone service. This restoration time varies depending
on the size and intensity of the disaster. If it is localized, as it could be
for a tornado, then service could be restored more quickly.
These
copper and fiber optic cables also interconnect the local telephone company’s
central offices to other central offices in the region and to long distance
providers, cell phone carriers, Internet and data communications service
providers anywhere in the world. These inter-exchange or ‘long haul’ circuits
provide the ability of inter-connectivity and communication to beyond
the local area. So if your business communicates between offices in Baton
Rouge LA and St. Louis MO there are probably several service providers and
miles of cables involved in carrying the information from one point to the
other. These cables travel above and underground and suffer the same fate as
the local last mile circuits do. However, because of the number of calls,
subscribers and the importance of these circuits, the carriers or the
businesses that use them generally employed circuit ‘diversity’. What this
means is that there are multiple paths for the voice or data to travel. If one
path fails there is another which can be used to take the call to its intended
destination. This works well for such things as car vs. pole accidents, isolated
incidents like localized fires and floods, but with mass devastation like we
experienced with Hurricane Katrina or the tornadoes in the midwest US, even the
diverse routes are consumed in the overall damage toll.
Power
is another failure mode. The central offices and cell phone sites have their
own power sources in the form of batteries and emergency generators. If the
event is limited to a few hours or a few days they will be fully operational.
However, it was found that in the case of the hurricanes and earthquakes of the
last few years power has been interrupted for several days even up to several
weeks and the power plants, central offices, or cell towers in the areas of
devastation were inaccessible for most of that time. This meant that the fuel trucks
needed to refuel the generators were unable to get to their destinations and
subsequently the central offices and cell sites went off-line.
So
now that we understand that the power and communications utilities have planned
for adverse events, but the intensity and massive area of devastation often
make these plans fail. It is left to the individual business owner or operator
to determine the criticality of their services and to properly plan for
potential communication and power failures that might impact them.
In
the next part of this article, I will endeavor to present the alternatives that
exist in case you experience a disastrous event with a communication failure.
Alternatives
Before
I discuss the alternatives I feel that it is important to note that power is a
main component of any recovery or mitigation strategy. That is, without power
to run these technologies they will not operate. So, it is important to have
reliable and sustainable power for the duration of the resumption and/or
recovery effort. If you cannot verify that this is the case then alternate site
recovery is the only viable alternative.
Infrared
One
such alternative to commercial communication systems is infrared. This
alternative is used if a company needs to interconnect two buildings together.
Infrared provides an optical data, voice and video transmission system. Like
fiber optic cable, infrared communications systems use laser light to transmit
a digital signal between two transceivers. However, unlike fiber, the laser
light is transmitted through the air. In order for the digital signal to be
transmitted and received, there must be clear line of site between each unit.
In other words, there should be no obstructions such as trees or buildings
between the transceiver units. So, if your wire-line or wireless
communications fails you can still provide communications between two points.
The only drawback is the distance and the line-of-sight requirements.
This
solution provides low-cost, high-speed wireless connectivity for a variety of
last-mile applications. It provides narrow-band voice and broadband
data connectivity and the various products provide scalable,
wireless alternatives to leased lines. These infrared systems operate at
data rates of 1 Megabit to Multi Gigabit speeds and they are deployable in one
day, without requiring right-of-way or government permits for installation.
They can provide an alternative communication link in hours instead of weeks or
months. This is probably not an option for a small business, but for a medium
or large business owner the cost is affordable. Cost can range from $10K to
$25K per installation capable of distances of up to 1000 meters.
Microwave
Another
alternative to commercial communication systems is microwave (wireless). This
alternative is used if a company needs to interconnect two buildings together
that are spaced farther apart than the conventional infrared can operate (i.e.,
in excess of 1000m). Microwave also provides a data, voice and video
transmission system. Unlike infrared communications systems, which use laser
light to transmit a digital signal between two transceivers, microwave uses
ultra-high frequency radio frequency (wireless) transmission. In order for the
digital signal to be transmitted and received, there again must be clear line
of site between each unit. However, the distance that this alternative can span
is up to 60 miles as long as no obstructions such as trees or buildings are
located between the two locations. If wire-line or wireless communications
fails communications between two points can still take place. There are several
drawbacks to this solution:
- Distance limited to up to 60 miles
- Requires an FCC license to operate
- Right of Way Permits may be required
- Needs highly trained technicians to install equipment
- Cost can be prohibited to small businesses
The
cost of a microwave system can be between $50K and $100K with installation and
license preparation charges to be in the area of another $15K. It still
provides a viable alternative for medium and large businesses.
Small
businesses also have an alternative of smaller wireless systems which utilize
non-licensed frequencies and which can be installed by an IT person in the
business operation. Cost is about $1000 to $2000, but I must warn you that this
is not as reliable a solution as the microwave wireless option and reliable
speeds may be slower.
Satellite
So
far I have provided solutions that have been better suited for the medium and
large business operations. Satellite provides alternatives for small, medium
and large enterprises and there are various speed and pricing options, which
make it a very attractive alternative or mitigation strategy.
Satellite phones
There
are several types of satellite alternatives. If a company is only interested in
providing a short term telephone back-up alternative then satellite phone
service like INMARSAT, at&t, Iridium, Satcom, Skytel, Worldcell, or
Globalstar to name only a few offer basic voice, fax and basic v and e-mail
services. They offer mobile phone services and are not usually capable of
providing sustained data communication or Internet types of services. However,
this communications strategy is good for keeping your senior executives and
critical operations personnel in contact during disasters. You can rent phones
for about $40/week and then pay about $1.00/minute for basic service or you can
buy the phones for $700 to $2000 each and negotiate rates in the area of
$0.85/minute. So as you can see this is not an inexpensive option, but usable
depending on the need for communications.
VSAT
VSAT
is an acronym for Very Small Aperture Terminal, an earthbound station used in
satellite communications of data, voice and video signals. A VSAT consists of
two parts, a transceiver that is placed outdoors in direct line of sight to the
satellite and a device that is placed indoors to interface the transceiver with
the end user's communications device, such as a PC. It is very much like a
satellite TV setup. VSAT service can be placed into two categories: those that
provide basic Internet access services and those that are enterprise grade. For
the small and medium sized business the Internet access type service is often
what is selected. Such offerings as: DirectWay, WildBlue, and Connexstar all
offer low cost, small business types of back up solutions which use equipment
much like the in-home satellite television services. The data rates are in the
area of 200 kbps uplink and 1.5 Mbps downlink which is very much like
residential DSL service. The cost is about $300 for the equipment and around
$100 or less each month. This would provide a small business the ability to
utilize VoIP, VPN and connect to the Internet. For medium and large size
businesses there are more sophisticated satellite services. They require
satellite antennas, which are 3 to 5 meters in diameter and much more
sophisticated and expensive equipment. Installation of these more sophisticated
satellite services can cost in the range of $100K to $250K with monthly
operational service charges from $1000 to $5000/month. They provide quality of
service and committed information rates as part of the service. They can
provide for up to 150 toll-quality phone lines, broadband Internet, and high speed
data communications and also provide secure communication (encrypted) is
required. Satellite services can also be rented as part of a contract or call
up service. But, rental services are on a first-come-first served basis. As we
witnessed during the tropical storms of last year these portable rental
satellite service providers were inundated with requests and try as they would
there were only so many units to go around. Those who did not plan or contract
ahead were left without service.
Last Thoughts
I
hope that I have given business continuity planners some food for thought in
developing alternative communication mitigation strategies. Each strategy has
its benefits and drawbacks. You need to look at each potential possibility and
determine what is right for you. If you are overwhelmed there are many
consulting organizations and even your own telecommunications services provider
who can help you to identify and select the best options. However, you need to
get started today for the next hurricane, tornado, flood, of catastrophe season
in your geographic region. It will be too late to plan after an event occurs.
Dr.
Jim Kennedy is the Business Continuity Services Practice Lead and a Consulting
Member of Technical Staff for Lucent Technologies. Dr. Kennedy has over 25
years experience in the business continuity and disaster recovery fields and
holds numerous Master level certifications in network engineering, information
security and business continuity.
He
has developed more than 30 recovery plans, planned or participated in more than
100 business continuity and disaster recovery tests, helped to coordinate three
actual recovery operations, authored many technical articles on business
continuity and disaster recovery and is a contributing author for two books,
the "Blackbook of Corporate Security" and "Disaster Recovery
Planning: An Introduction."
jtkennedy@lucent.com
For more information about Business Continuity, IT Disaster
Recovery and Audit Training and Certification, visit www.sentryx.com or contact info@sentryx.com or call 1-800-869-8460.
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