Originally Posted by
His dudeness
What this really highlights, is how the (EU driven) shift to privatization of crucial infrastructure allows for these weak points to develop.
I beg to differ. The most robust network I have been involved with was a totally private company. At one point, it carried the BBC broadcasting distribution network so it was a high stakes venture. In 1994, a 737 crashed short of Coventry airport and went straight through the network at Willenhall. I was in the ops centre at the time and the screens lit up like a christmas tree. The BBC transmissions didn't even flicker as the network was fully redundant. All other services including 999 were similarly unaffected.
Separacy and diversity of networks is critical. In a development at locations such as an airport, the incremental costs are negligible compared to the cost of failure. You can plan as much as you like but Murphy is always waiting in the wings. One memorable event involved a Big Telecom company who excavated a duct under a rugby pitch using a horizontal borer. The machine was programmed to dig deeper than other infrastructure which was marked accurately on the diagrams. Nobody noticed that to improve drainage, the height of the pitch had been increased. Ouch ! Another event in Glasgow city centre involved a water main. The excavations did not touch the pipe however it had corroded to the point where the weight of the earth above it was holding it together. The dig reduced the weight and the whole pipe let go in a spectacular fashion.