FCC examining survivability of nation’s broadband networks

Carrier hotel

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is gathering information from the public about the survivability of the nation’s broadband communications networks, which it believes could experience “overload” conditions in the event of natural disasters, pandemics or other emergencies.

“The Commissions seeks comment broadly on the ability of existing networks to withstand localized or distributed physical damage, including whether there is adequate network redundancy and the extent of survivability of physical enclosures in which network elements are located, and severe overloads,” says a notice posted by the FCC in the Federal Register on May 11.

Rapid changes in the nation’s communications landscape greatly concern the FCC. “For example, IP-based telephony services have penetrated into the consumer and enterprise markets at a breakneck pace,” says the FCC notice, “in many cases without the end-users even knowing that a major technology change has occurred.”

The Commission points out that many consumers are no longer tied to a single public-switched telephone network (PSTN), but rely on a number of interconnected networks, such as cable, fiber, local exchange carriers, licenses wireless broadband and unlicensed wireless Internet service providers.

“As Americans increasingly rely on broadband communications networks for voice, video, data, and other communications services, the reliability and survivability of broadband communications networks becomes an even more critical factor in the safety, security, and well-being of the American people,” observed the FCC.

The Commission noted that broadband networks are generally presumed to be survivable at their “core,” but generally become weaker as one moves toward the “network edge.”

The FCC is soliciting comments from the public in three broad areas of potential harm to broadband networks: (1) physical damage, (2) inadequate redundancy and (3) severe network overload.

The Commission invites detailed answers to these and other pressing questions:

• What are the “single points of failure” in broadband architectures – edge routers, gateway routers, transport links, cell sites or VoIP servers?
• What special services would enhance the survivability of public safety answering points?
• Does the co-location of network hardware in ‘carrier hotels’ or ‘SuperNodes’ represent a significant vulnerability?
• Are security standards at these facilities adequate?

Comments will be accepted until June 25. Interested parties can visit www.regulations.gov and cite docket number FCC 10-62.

Further information about the FCC’s comment period is available from John Healy, of the FCC’s Communications Systems Analysis Division, at 202-418-2448.