Asian Quake Disrupts Data Traffic (NY Times, 28 Dec 06)

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From: [email protected]
Date: December 28, 2006 5:33:24 AM EST
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Subject: Asian Quake Disrupts Data Traffic (NY Times, 28 Dec 06)




December 28, 2006
Asian Quake Disrupts Data Traffic
By CHOE SANG-HUN and WAYNE ARNOLD
SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 27 =97 Telecommunications across Asia were=20=20
disrupted on Wednesday after an earthquake off Taiwan damaged=20=20
undersea cables, jamming Internet services as voice and data traffic=20=20
vied for space on smaller cables and slower satellite links.

The quake disrupted services in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South=20=20
Korea and Japan, but a ripple effect was felt in other parts of the=20=20
world. Many phone subscribers could not get through to Europe,=20=20
regional telecommunications operators reported, as they raced to=20=20
reroute their traffic to alternative lanes.

=93We are seeing really massive outages in a spread of countries in=20=20
East and Southeast Asia,=94 said Todd Underwood, chief operations and=20=20
security officer at the Internet monitoring firm Renesys. =93This is a=20=
=20
much broader effect than you see in most natural disasters.=94

Financial companies and businesses in the region were hit hard, as=20=20
online banking and communications between financial markets and=20=20
traders were affected. The stock exchanges in Tokyo and Hong Kong=20=20
said they were working without problems, and traders found ways to=20=20
complete their transactions.

The earthquake, which Taiwan authorities said registered a magnitude=20=20
of 6.7, struck off the island=92s southern tip Tuesday evening. Several=20=
=20
major cables were cut, according to telecommunications executives,=20=20
including the Asia Pacific Cable Network, which links North and=20=20
Southeast Asia, and the SEA-ME-WE-2 link, which stretches from South=20=20
Korea around the Eurasian land mass to the Netherlands.

Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan=92s largest phone company, said that the quake=20=
=20
had damaged two undersea cables off the Taiwan coast. The lines route=20=20
calls and process Internet traffic for several Asian countries. China=20=20
Telecom, China=92s biggest fixed-line telephone operator, said that the=20=
=20
earthquake had affected lines =93from the Chinese mainland to places=20=20
including the Taiwan area, the United States and Europe, and many=20=20
have been cut.=94 It also reported serious damage to Internet connections.

PCCW, Hong Kong=92s main fixed-line telecommunications provider, said=20=20
that several of its partly owned submarine cables had been damaged.=20=20
With its data capacity reduced by half, PCCW cautioned that some=20=20
Internet users in the region could experience congestion over the=20=20
next several days. Both Singapore Telecommunications, Southeast=20=20
Asia=92s top phone company, and its local rival, StarHub, reported slow=20=
=20
access to Internet pages.

Mr. Underwood said that after the earthquake struck, 3,000 Asian=20=20
networks disappeared entirely from his company=92s tracking equipment.=20=
=20
By comparison, 5,000 networks disappeared during the blackout of 2003=20=20
in the Northeast United States, he said.

Networks in the United States and Europe were not affected. However,=20=20
many companies with subsidiaries, partners or manufacturers in Asia=20=20
are finding their communications disrupted. =93The reality is the=20=20
Internet is a global network, and it is fairly rare to find large=20=20
organizations that don=92t do a significant amount of traffic to Asia,=94=
=20=20
Mr. Underwood said.

Experts in Taiwan and elsewhere said that repairs to undersea cables=20=20
could take weeks, raising fears of more communications difficulties=20=20
in Taiwan, the fifth-largest economy in Asia, and of more telephone=20=20
and Internet problems in the region.

=93This is a major event, and it=92s not going to get fixed fast,=94 Mr.=20=
=20
Underwood said. =93These cables are underwater. You have to get boats=20=20
in place, they have to drag the cables until they find the break. The=20=20
good news is that during earthquakes the breaks tend to happen close=20=20
to land and are not really that deep. But the last underwater cable=20=20
outage took six weeks to fix.=94

Analysts said it was fortunate that the breakdown occurred during the=20=20
relatively quiet holiday period, with business activity light and=20=20
markets mostly quiet. Such an interruption during an ordinary week=20=20
could have had catastrophic impact on regional businesses, especially=20=20
financial markets.

Still, many securities traders in Hong Kong and Singapore were unable=20=20
to obtain prices and complete orders because networks linking=20=20
financial companies were disrupted. Dealers in the region said they=20=20
have had difficulties accessing international news providers for=20=20
information. They also reported that customers using the Internet for=20=20
prices complained that they could not look up stock prices online.

That Internet traffic out of Southeast Asia was not cut off entirely=20=20
was testimony to the progress made in recent years in adding capacity=20=20
along new routes, executives said. But they said that most=20=20
information sought by global Internet users remains in the United=20=20
States, and Asia is linked to that information by only a handful of=20=20
relatively fragile cables that are subject to forces on the ocean=20=20
floor. Information can be transmitted by satellite, but it is slower=20=20
and more expensive than sending it over cables.

=93We do need these submarine cables,=94 said Paul Budde, an analyst in=20=
=20
Sydney. =93Satellite is not really an alternative for the heavy=20=20
traffic. For the bulk, you do need these fat cables.=94

But most of Asia is separated by water, meaning data must be carried=20=20
by undersea cables that rest on the seabed up to eight kilometers, or=20=20
five miles, below the surface. Building such submarine cables is an=20=20
expensive undertaking. By one estimate, it costs up to $500,000 a=20=20
kilometer to lay undersea cables. As a result, most cables are owned=20=20
by consortiums of telecommunications companies, which create joint=20=20
pricing and share the cost of building and repairing the cables.

As recently as a decade ago, Asia was connected to the United States=20=20
by only five cables, all through Japan. The dot-com boom ushered in a=20=20
period of rapid expansion, and cables now connect Australia, China=20=20
and South Korea directly to the United States.

In an attempt to add even more capacity to meet growing demand in=20=20
Asia, Verizon Communications announced last week that it was joining=20=20
with three Chinese carriers, a Taiwanese carrier and a South Korean=20=20
carrier to build the Trans-Pacific Express, a $500 million, 18,000-=20
kilometer network in the region.

That will help telecommunications companies in the future, but their=20=20
most immediate task is finding alternatives for delivering their=20=20
customers=92 information until the undersea cables can be repaired.

KDDI, Japan=92s major carrier for international calls, whose=20=20
communications along undersea cables out of Japan went through Taiwan=20=20
before reaching Southeast Asia and beyond, said that the use of=20=20
alternative lines would limit the possibility of a complete breakdown=20=20
in communications.

In Seoul, the KT Corporation, South Korea=92s leading fixed-line and=20=20
broadband service provider, rerouted ordinary telephone calls and=20=20
data traffic, said Yeom Woo Jong, a KT spokesman.

=93This incident reminds telecommunications companies like us of the=20=20
importance of acquiring alternative lines,=94 Mr. Yeom said, =93to ensure=
=20=20
undisrupted services during an emergency. It means investment and=20=20
more cost.=94

Choe Sang-Hun reported from Seoul, South Korea, and Wayne Arnold from=20=20
Singapore. Brad Stone contributed reporting.