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Third Internet Cable Breaks; IT Groups on Alert

Cable breaks today off the coast of Dubai, following two incidents affecting India earlier this week, and IT groups hold their breath. So far, offshore providers have weathered the crisis, even keeping up with real-time services such as call centers and network monitoring.

By Stephanie Overby

PAGE 2

For those who outsource software development to Indian providers, the Internet issues were not a big concern. "In many cases the build takes place offsite and does not require direct integration on a real-time basis," says Shawn Berg, vice president of technology operations at JM Family Enterprises, a Deefield Beach, Fla.-based automotive services company that offshores development work to Cybage and Keane in India. "We have not heard of any hard impact at this time."

The major concern yesterday was whether real-time services provided via the Internet from India—such as call center support and network monitoring—would be affected.

Maguire, whose Virgin America infrastructure is managed remotely by CSS Corp. out of Chennai, says the overnight team in India had no problems with network access.

P. V. Kannan, CEO 24/7 Customer, a Campbell, Calif.-headquartered provider of Indian call centers, says his company saw some slowdown and ultimately full recovery. "My guess is that (Internet providers) are keeping the corporate customers alive and probably squeezing out home user who may face more serious disruption and slowdown," says Kannan. "We always have 100 percent backup routes that go across the Pacific and Atlantic to tackle this kind of stuff. Our providers are prepared."

EDS, a Plano-Tex.-based IT services provider with operations in India, set up an emergency hotline to receive calls from concerned clients, according to spokesperson Blake Hull. Only two calls came in, and those were from clients experiencing problems with networks EDS did not manage. EDS says it had "no known interruptions to service" as a result of the cable damage.

By Friday, India's Internet services were operating at about 80 percent of capacity with officials saying that normal service could be restored within a week, according to a report by the Associated Press. "There are multiple points of redundancy on both the west and east coast of India," says Cliff Justice, managing director of globalization for outsourcing advisory EquaTerra. "So if the companies have planned properly, there should be little impact. This does serve as a reminder for clients to conduct due diligence and ensure the appropriate disaster recovery and redundancy plans are in place."

Other stories by Stephanie Overby

 

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