Hurricane Maria - Lessons Learned - a panel discussion at the CIO & IT Leadership Conference #PRisIT

September 20th, 2017 will be a date that will be remembered for a long time by many. To some, it was a day of tragedy, for me it was a date for maturity.  Maturity, because Hurricane Maria was the "test of fire" for our company.  The worst that could happen, happened and it depended on everyone as a team to overcome it. And we did! 

 

If anything Hurricane Maria taught us was that our "infatuation" with fiber optics connectivity needed some revision.  Many don't know the fact that wireless technology saved the day after the hurricane.  Even if many did not noticed!  Several companies like ours provided wireless Internet and data services to many critical operations including the Disaster Management Center at Centro de Convenciones, critical connectivity for Evertec / ATH, Hacienda, FEMA, US Army Corp. of Engineers, among many even including connecting cellular towers for mobile service. 

As of May 10th 2018 Sin Comillas, a local business news outlet, reported that the local cable provider customer base was 80% up.  Not to kick a dead horse, but this puts forward the fragility of wireline networks.  Our customer base was 80% up just 8 weeks after the hurricane.  I use this example to highlight the true advantage of a wireless based infrastructure.  Although is not Hurricane proof, it can be reestablished far quicker than wireline.

At the 2018 Puerto Rico IT Cluster: CIO & ITLeadership Conference, I was able to participate in a panel where the effects of hurricane Maria on the telecom infrastructure on Puerto Rico were discussed. Lessons learned and next steps to be taken were among the topics of interest.

 (1) Tell us about the biggest challenge you faced after Hurricane Maria

There were many challenges faced after Hurricane Maria, starting from the most important part of any business, Our Team.  A small group of our dedicated staff, stayed at our facilities during the hurricane, they were responsible for monitoring and logging all incidents related to the hurricane.  I thank them for their efforts, as they were the "first responders" of our plan. Like many others, just getting our staff with the basic necessities so that they could be able to work was a challenge. Food, Gas and even a place to stay were provided to our employees. Some of our staff members turned our facilities into their temporary homes, as many brought the rest of their family to stay during the day. Another challenge was logistics, including physical access to our towers, our customers and other locations for repair.  Also, related to logistics, getting supplies from the mainland turned to be a huge problem.  The federal government was controlling all inbound cargo to PR. 

(2) Can you share with us a brief summary of how you overcame this challenge?

We relied on our customers as partners to overcame many of the challenges.  Starting from reaching cooperative agreements with gas stations so that we could have gas to operate and for our employees. Also, we partnered with a restaurant that provided our staff and family with daily breakfast and lunch. 

The logistics challenge was one that was a bit difficult to overcome.  Thankfully Most of the principal roads were somewhat cleared for traffic by the local citizens, letting a hand to the local government to quickly recover access to transportation which is critical on this kind of event. 

Getting the supplies from the Mainland to PR in order for our company to quickly repair the damages presented the biggest hurdle as the US government was controlling all sea and air traffic. The most cost effective way of shipping 20+ pallets of equipment would be by sea, but we had to rely on more costly air transport to get our supplies in a timely manner. This with some issues in terms of being able to get an air transport window by the FEMA controlled airport.

(3) Where is your company now vs. pre Maria and how are you preparing to become more resilient

We are bigger and stronger! We have learned many lessons along the way and rectified many weaknesses.  Among our plans that are being executed right now are:

-Non-dependence on any government help, during a disaster, your company must count with all the resources necessary to operate completely disengaged from any help or assistance from the government.  This includes shelter, food, water, gas, transportation and communications. 

-Alternative long run power.  We have revised our backup power plan and expanded it capabilities from isolated operation to 4 continuous weeks.  The addition of solar energy is critical, but must be integrated property to have a high survivability rate. 

-Redundancy, Redundancy, Redundancy.  Any operation that relies on Internet access for its continuity, must include several, fully independent connectivity providers.  We all now by now that a fiber cut or a copper line can take months to get repaired so to guarantee the survivability of your business, other technologies like wireless or satellite must be included in the contingency plan.  We relied on fiber for backhaul but we are building a multi-gig microwave backbone that goes around the island and thought it. This network will protect our services for future events. 

Enrique Ortiz - President, Claro PR / Gino Villarini - CEO & Founder, AeroNet / Henry Gordillo - President, Intech / Felix Lugo - Country Manager, C&W Business.

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Gino Villarini: Twitter, Instagram

My recent visit to Facebook for the TIP Summit and its Relevance

Early this year, during the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Facebook announced the creation of the Telecom Infra Project (TIP).  TIP is an engineering focused initiative led by Facebook to disrupt the telecommunications industry with open source software and hardware.  The idea is to bring together operators, manufacturers and other industry members in a joint effort to possibly standardize much of the telecom industry under the open software ideals.

Facebook has been involved in the connectivity arena for quite a while.  From Project Aquila, which pursues the idea of beaming Internet from a high flying wing drone to the more recent Terragraph Project which objective is to provide Wireless Gigabit in urban environments.  Facebook spear heading the TIP provides the needed momentum in the industry tho think outside the box and both provide connectivity to the unconnected as well as improve connectivity to the connected.

Quickly acknowledging the need for such an initiative, we decided to join the effort as a Operator Member.  Thus since March 2016 AeroNet is part of the TIP initiative.  Later during summer the first TIP Summit was announced to be held at Facebook headquarters in Silicon Valley during November.  I quickly booked my flight  and was exited about this new opportunity.

Reaching the Facebook campus, I have to say that I felt somewhat overwhelmed by what Facebook represents and the people behind the TIP project.  Being a small provider among the big players could be somewhat intimidating.  Among the presents were Deutsche Telekom's (Tmobile parent company) CTO Bruno Jacobfeuerborn, SK Telecom (Biggest South Korea Telecom Company) CTO Alex Jinsung Choi and Facebook VP of Infrastructure Jay Parikh.

Some highlights of the summit where the announcement of the Voyager platform, a 1U 100G and DWDM switch with SDN capabilities which purpose is to lower the cost of fiber deployments.

Jay Parikh presenting the Voyager 100G Switch

Another highlight of the summit was the Open Cellular, a project that is currently developing a low cost Software Defined Base Station intended for 4G, LTE, 5G deployments. 

Jay Parikh presenting Open Cellular

Although my main objective for the summit was to learn more about Project Terragraph and millimeter multipoint technologies, not much was discussed about this topic because it is still in "stealth mode" I do was able to snaps some pictures of the Terragraph equipment being tested in the Facebook campus.

TIP Lab @ Facebook

After two days at Facebook Hq I left with much more excitement as I was able to see first hand the stages of development of the projects and what the future holds for worldwide connectivity! 

View of Hacker Way @ Facebook HQ

How to make the best out of your Wi-Fi connectivity experience

It was around the late 90’s that the world as we knew it, suffered a drastic change. Just when we were getting used to the Internet and to having whatever information we needed with just a click, a new technology arrived. The acronym Wi-Fi was a new word in the dictionary that meant the power of doing it all while walking down the streets or waiting in line at the supermarket.

Today Wi-Fi is a daily basis service that many take for granted and it is not until we face problems with it, that we wonder, what could've gone wrong? But have you ever asked yourself, how does the Wi-Fi work or what can I do to have better Wi-Fi reception?

The Wi-Fi is a network connection that does not require the use of cables or wires because is transmitted via radio waves. The Federal Communications Commission has designated a block of frequencies to be used freely for Wi-Fi and other applications. Although they are free for use, they do have a set of regulations that manufacturers and users must abide to. These frequencies are in the microwave spectrum range of 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz. and transport the data in digital format between the router or access point and the end user equipment.

Being so important today for many people, it would be a great idea to know what would cause your Wi-Fi signal to degrade and also learn some tips that may help improve your Wi-Fi experience.

• Location - Be picky about where your router is located. The signal moves in circle waves, so when you’re looking for a place to locate the router, be sure your computer will be on the scope of range.

• Also, in that location arrangement, take into consideration that concrete and metal are enemies of your signal. Avoid locating the router inside closets, drawers, or where many walls can interrupt the signal.

• When purchasing a router, make sure it comes with the latest technology. Each router comes with a configuration that provides the capability of boosting your speed signal and providing a wider range. This technology changes constantly. As of today, the latest one is 802.11ac.

• Keep the firmware up to date. The router’s firmware is basically the software that runs on the router. Router manufacturers may release firmware updates that fix problems or help the connection experience. This can be done from the router itself.

• Get a password for your Internet connection. This will prevent strangers from getting access your connection, thus making it slower and actually insecure. Be certain to use the most appropriate encryption. For individual users, the most appropriate is the WPA2 and for business there’s WPA2-Enterprise.

• Do take into consideration that Wi-Fi signal channels are not exclusive for your use and you can encounter interference from near routers/access points from your neighbors or even yours if you operate several on the same channel.

• WiFi revision B and G operate on 2.4 Ghz. Later revisions like 802.11n operate on both 2.4 and 5 Ghz frequencies.  The latest revision, 802.11ac only operates in 5 Ghz. Be sure to always configure your wireless access point to   use different, non-overlapping channels in both WiFi bands.

• Business-wise, I recommend having several Wi-Fi points to improve connection, coverage and speed. Also the location of each one of them is extremely important as is the channel plan to use. A savvy Wi-Fi vendor would have the correct tools to properly design, implement and maximize your Wi-Fi investment.

• Also, for businesses, consider getting a Dedicated Internet Service. It will get you a faster, reliable Internet and guaranteed customer service, among many more benefits. This does promise some seriously impressive speed improvements.

The most important thing to remember is to always consult an expert if you need any help or recommendation. Here at AeroNet, we are ready to give you the best Internet experience. 

To learn more about us visit our Website or send us a Email You can also follow us on Twitter @AeroNetPR @GVillarini Facebook LinkedIn