[LINK] Is the NBN Ready for Extreme Weather?

Paul Brooks pbrooks at layer10.com.au
Fri Dec 7 12:56:56 AEDT 2012


On 7/12/2012 12:36 PM, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
> IMHO,It's always a good idea to start with the demand, unlike the "focused"
> technologists who push their "solutions". 

Indeed. To be fair, the original kick-off for this discussion was a demand-driven
query - will the NBN (and mobile networks) be prepared for extreme weather events, as
discussed in the ToR of a new Senate Inquiry:
 
http://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/senate_committees?url=ec_ctte/extreme_weather/tor.htm,
which includes in part:
"

  * (a) recent trends on the frequency of extreme weather events, including but not
    limited to drought, bushfires, heatwaves, floods and storm surges;

  * (b) based on global warming scenarios outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on
    Climate Change and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
    Organisation of 1 to 5 degrees by 2070:

  * (c) an assessment of the preparedness of key sectors for extreme weather events,
    including major infrastructure (electricity, water, transport,
    telecommunications), health, construction and property, and agriculture and forestry;

"

Its a reasonable question to ask, and starts with an assessments of demands and
outcomes, not starting with a solution.


As one of many on this list that watched the Telstra, TransACT and mobile
infrastructure fall, burn and melt out of existence during the 2003 Canberra
firestorms, I think its a reasonable question.

My main issue with the original post was the characterisation of the current network
as somehow resilient or prepared to withstand these extreme weather events, and an
assumption that the new network necessarily needed to.
The current network isn't, and doesn't. 

P.




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