Hurricane Aftermath: Let's Hear It For The Good Guys
10/04/2005 05:26:13 PM EDT
Broadband Business Forecast
Starting just a few days after Hurricane Katrina deluged the Big Easy and surrounding towns, Broadband Business Forecast begin receiving messages from broadband and telecommunications companies saying how they were responding to the loss of virtually all forms of communication in the affected areas. We've received so many during the past month that it's been impossible to publish most of them.
Industry response has included everything from outright cash donations to free or subsidized equipment and provision of expertise to emergency diversion or delivery of the hardware and people needed to get things working again. The response has also resulted in a tour de force for broadband technology - representing everything from the predictable heavy use of satellites to replace the land-based infrastructure damaged or destroyed by the storms to the somewhat surprising appearance of broadband over powerline (BPL) as part of the relief effort.
With apologies to all of the companies that pitched in that we don't mention - there's neither time nor space to mention everyone - BBF presents a sampling of what we've been told:
One of the first messages we received was from Global Relief Technologies (GRT) and Telenor Satellite Services, which teamed to rush rapid data- management-collection capabilities and mobile satellite communications to elements of the 2nd United States Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), even as the Marines were en route. The effort included PDAs loaded with customized Rapid Data Management Software (RDMS) developed by GRT and then transported directly to the Marine units onboard U.S. Navy ships deploying into hurricane stricken areas. GRT and Telenor subsidized the equipment.
Also jumping in quickly was The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International's frequency-coordination subsidiary AFC, Inc. The AFC aid, which APCO is providing free, included help for public-safety agencies needing Special Temporary Authority (STA) licensing from the Federal Communications Commission. APCO has also, in the wake of the hurricanes, emerged as a major advocate in Washington, D.C, for more competent planning for disaster communications.
Also illustrating the key role satellites now play in voice and data communications, satellite service provider Stratos Global and satellite operator Inmarsat teamed to provide free-of-charge satellite-based communications services to allow hurricane victims and relief workers providing assistance in the area to contact family and loved ones. Stratos deployed a mobile communications headquarters equipped with
Inmarsat Global Areas Network and mini-M mobile satellite terminals.
In yet another satellite-related effort, Tachyon Networks donated $25,000 in satellite broadband equipment and services to the Naval Postgraduate School's arm of Joint Task Force Katrina. Tachyon's gear is a push-button, automatically deployable satellite earth station solution (known as the Auto Deploy) used for transportable broadband access. The Naval School has carrier-grade broadband satellites used to enable communication between shore-based relief personnel and field agents throughout Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Meanwhile on the Wi-Fi front, Pronto Networks, which offers carrier-class operations support systems (OSS) for managing large-scale Wi-Fi hot-spot and hot-zone networks, donated its Managed Services for converged networks to enable broadband wireless connectivity in the New Orleans downtown and airport areas as well as in Biloxi and Baton Rouge. Pronto was part of a team that included Intel, MCI's SkyTel and Tropos Networks.
VoIP also got into the picture, as eLEC Communications' wholly owned subsidiary VoX Communications provided customer-access devices and Wi-Fi IP phones to FEMA workers. The IP phones, rushed into the area not long after the winds died down, were serviced over a DSSI Wireless Wi-Fi network that miraculously escaped major storm damage.
As for the use of BPL technology, that came from Telkonet, partnering with Broadband Horizons. The two provided high-speed Internet access to a housing-processing center in Killeen, Texas, to help 3,000 Katrina evacuees. The processing center, set up in an abandoned shopping center, also housed refugees. Telkonet wired the entire building for broadband in 12 minutes, dishing up bandwidth to a mobile lab that was set up with laptop computers for Katrina evacuees, workers from the Social Security Administration, the American Red Cross, and the Texas Veteran's Commission to use along with various health and county-government organizations.
For those - which is most - who couldn't get to a broadband connection, AVST donated a 96-port CallXpress Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System to the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency. That let victims who could get to a phone immediately get automated information on where to find emergency housing.
Finally, the list of companies in broadband and telecom that donated piles of cash is nearly endless. Typical of those was Alltel, which sent $1 million to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. It also put another $500,000 into an internal fund to help its own employees affected by the storms and offered to match any donations its own employees made.
BBF's Take On The Situation
The hurricane disaster has taught us a series of important lessons: The first is just how dependent the United States has become on voice and data communications. The second is how badly prepared government at all levels was to help ensure communications continuity.
Broadband Business Forecast both applauds those in the industry that rushed to help and bemoans the fact that there wasn't either the foresight or budget to buy and be ready with such things as satellite data terminals. The preparedness issue, of course, is being hashed out everywhere from the halls of Congress to radio talk shows.
Meanwhile, looking on the brighter side, the hurricane disaster has given just about every segment of broadband and telecom a chance to show off the value of the latest and greatest in technology. We're sure that, buried in there, were also some rude shocks, like when cutting-edge technology didn't work quite as expected - but we doubt we're going to hear much in public about that from the companies involved. Still, it's probably turned out to be a great test under actual field conditions that has provided lessons that will be reflected in future products.
By the way, if anyone is wondering what this publication did - and we consider BBF just as much a part of the industry as any of the companies that we cover - we're not going to pat ourselves on the back, but we are proud to report that our parent company, Access Intelligence, is one of the many that matched employee contributions, dollar for dollar, for the relief efforts.
[Copyright 2005 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.]