[LINK] FLoods taking out banking infrastructure

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Appears the problem is batteries, and for AAPT a fibre-cut ..

<http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/thousands-
disconnected-as-floods-sink-telcos-20110113-19oz4.html>


Telecommunications networks in Queensland are being hammered by the
floods, with several exchanges offline and more outages expected as
back-up batteries run out in power-affected areas.

Tens of thousands of people are without mobile, landline or internet
access, despite telcos using helicopters, sandbags and plastic wrappings
to protect their sites from water damage.

"We have a lot of damaged infrastructure but more importantly our biggest 
issue is access to power," a Telstra spokeswoman said.

"Power goes down or power is turned off deliberately by the energy 
suppliers to control and limit damage."

Batteries are powering a number of exchanges but technicians are 
struggling to replace them as they cannot access the sites.

A Vodafone staffer, who did not wish to be named, said Vodafone sites 
were "going down hour by hour".

"Over 200 sites are affected at the moment," the staff member said.

"There's not much we can do once we get the alarm saying there's water in 
there and the power is shut off ... in some cases the water is six to 
seven metres high, so it's not really safe to go in there to replace 
batteries." (snip)


Most data centres hosting web pages in Queensland, with the exception of 
AAPT, have remained online despite fears they may be flooded, said Cheyne 
Jonstone, CEO of VentraIP Group, which offered temporary web hosting to 
anyone affected by the floods.

"Brisbane has a very large data centre population, there's quite a number 
of different data centres there and a lot of small-to-medium size hosts 
as well as MelbourneIT and WebCentral," he said.

"As far as I'm aware no services have been adversely impacted and none of 
the data centres except for AAPT have been actually affected."

"They were worried about the Pipe data centre but that didn't end up 
going underwater."

AAPT CEO Paul Broad said in a phone interview that the telco had serious 
issues with some infrastructure but had been able keep its customers 
online thanks to diversions and support from other telcos.

"The fibre cut [near Toowoomba] has hurt us the most ... but when we got 
there it hasn't been as big of a wash out as we thought," he said

--

Cheers,
Stephen