No. 45b, 14 September 2001 - SPECIAL ISSUE
Editor: Marine Chartois
DANTE's PoP in New York is located at 25 Broadway, which lies in the disaster area. An emergency service had top priority when the area was evacuated on Tuesday and Telehouse managed to keep the PoP running. After the powergrid for the area was hit when the towers collapsed, diesel generators kicked in smoothly, with an initial supply of 70 hours of diesel. TeleHouse were actually able to refuel on Thursday night, which gave the PoP another four days' worth of fuel.
T-Systems, who were providing an important part of the transatlantic connectivity and local loops to our research interconnects, have seen their metropolitan ring affected, as the two ring parts each went through one of the two towers. An alternative fiber has been found to 60 Hudson, T-Systems' PoP, which should restore connectivity; however, due to the security measures in the area, the site still cannot be accessed at this point to finish the installation.
Commodity IP service was also shortly cut on both rings to UUnet but has been restored.
All NRENs accessing the DANTE World Service through TEN-155 have been rerouted through a newly established STM-4 between Frankfurt and 25 Broadway. DFN had an STM-4 backup through an alternative provider, like several other NRENs, and INFN has been offered an alternative STM-4 with global access. In the spirit of the events, KPNQwest has also offered DANTE global access from London on an STM-4.
Unfortunately, the water pumps of the generators at 25 Broadway failed early today, which we imagine to be linked to the worry expressed by some about the filters and cooling systems due to the debris covering the area. We do not have an estimated time of repair at this time, as access to the area is blocked, and the prospects of a restoration of the powergrid in the area are grim. In these conditions, the 25 Broadway PoP is currently down.
To sum things up, we are now waiting for an authorisation to access the site at 25 Broadway. As soon as access is restored, the TeleHouse staff will proceed to the repair of the generators and things should kick in again as usual.
At this moment all NRENs have an alternative connection for global connectivity via TEN-155 or otherwise.
However, please keep in mind that the situation in New York is highly unstable and that service once fully restored may not be reliable, although we are doing our best to provide connectivity to all.
We would like to address a special thank you to the NRENs, our suppliers and the other organisations who have offered us support in providing alternative solutions, as well as to the TeleHouse staff in New York, who have done an amazing job given the situation.
We will try and keep you informed of the evolution of the situation. Thank you for your patience and your understanding.