What does Renesys do?
When people learn the name of my employer, the next set of questions almost always has to do with what it is Renesys does. A few days ago, two major telecommunications cables in the Middle East broke, impeding Internet access and phone calls. Two of my coworkers have been talking to lots of folks in the media about the cable breaks and their aftermath and implications. Since we’re one of the few companies monitoring global Internet router data, news organizations often contact us when this kind of crisis happens.
“At Renesys, we geo-locate all routed networks and observe their reachability from over 250 locations around the globe. In the case of disasters like this, we will suddenly see a large percentage and/or a large number of country-specific networks disappear from the Internet,” writes Earl Zmijewski, vice president and general manager for our Internet Data Services, in his first blog post about the incident.
Here are a few highlights:
- Earl spoke briefly yesterday on the radio program To the Point.
- For a look at fiber optic cuts in general, Wired News interviewed Todd Underwood, who has been with Renesys for a while in various roles and is now vice president and general manager of Babbledog.
- There is a page linking to more media coverage.
- Earl also wrote two blog posts about the break: Mediterranean Cable Break and Mediterranean Cable Break – Part II.
- And, as you might expect, a few of us are chatting about it on Babbledog.
While some of us might think “This kind of problem could never happen to my company …”, now could be a really good opportunity to have a conversation about all sorts of telecommunications “What ifs,” especially if your organization outsources to another country.
Addendum: One of my Babbledog coworkers (who has an awesome icon) found this post.
