Rain snaps Net connectivity in IT city

Rain snaps Net connectivity in IT city
The Times of India

Bangalore: The lights went out in India’s Silicon Valley and with that disappeared all the connectivity. The high winds just blew away the infrastructure, broadband connections snapped and telephone lines went dead. Worse, because of the road widening work on in the city, many underground cables were exposed to the water, adding to the chaos.

The blank out left software companies, Internet cafes, small-time homebased companies all looking heavenwards, as life and business came to a still.

Shekhar from ZeeNext, which supplies Internet connection, said the whole of Bangalore East was inundated with calls as overhead cables got cut, snapping broadband connections to homes and companies. “Because of the harsh winds, a huge number of overhead cables that supply broadband connection to the area were cut. In some apartments too, where there is command type connections (direct connection for the entire building complex), broadband connections were hit.

Several IT companies which boast of “uninterrupted infrastructure” too had to bow to the “poor infrastructure” because of the rain havoc, followed by poor post-service. At IT firm Honeywell, telephone lines were affected at around 4 pm and Australian customers who need to be attended to at that hour were wondering if Bangalore had drowned, said an employee there.

Life for individual like Vinaya Hegde, a freelance consultant who relies heavily on the e-mailing facility, too came to a halt. “Even the Internet cafes in the whole of Indiranagar did not have connectivity. All work came to a stop,’’ she stated.

At major IT houses, all critical IT equipment was immediately put on UPS. Said Transworks CEO Prakash Gurbaxani, “Power came from the generator and the UPS was immediately switched on. But it was crazy at home - there was no power and even the Net was down.’’

Ram Kumar from Hathway cables also had a tough time explaining to customers about the major breakdown. “Forget overhead cables, even our underground fibre optic cables got affected as they were exposed. Now post-rain, there is no work possible as it is all slushy,’’ he added.

Bharti Telecom and BSNL lines were also affected. Said BSNL Principal General Manager R.K. Arnold, “In certain places, trees have fallen on the overhead lines, cutting them and in other areas like Old Madras Road, where road widening work is on, cables were exposed to the water and they have been affected.’’