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Hurricane Recovery Experience

John QuigleyDirector

Network IntegrityNetwork Operations

November 18, 2004

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Who was the first pilot to intentionally fly into a hurricane's eye?

A. Chuck Yeager

B. Charles Lindbergh

C. Amelia Earhart

D. Joseph Duckworth

Hurricane Trivia

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Overview

• Series of four hurricanes hit the state of Florida between August 13 and September 30, 2004– Charley– Frances– Ivan– Jeanne

• The loss of resources (e.g. backhaul, power, fuel) to individual cell-sites occurred in the Southeastern markets and hampered wireless service restoration efforts

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Industry Issues

1. Power to remote areas slower to be restored due to geographic location Priority to restoration is unclear

2. Storm caused shortages of fuels needed for generators No priority for NS/EP entities

3. Pumps at fuel stations in the field were electric and as such would not work during major power outages following the storm.

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Industry Issues

4. Evacuation in affected areas causes longer outage duration.

5. T1’s went offline following loss of power to central offices causing need to reprioritize work continually.

6. Circuits went down due to lack of back-up power at remote terminals (e.g. remote fiber-mux)

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Lessons Learned:

• Backup power is critical and the most vulnerable component of telecommunications network

• Expertise in the area of logistics cannot be underestimated!– Moving people, generators, trucks– Food, Fuel, lodging

• Continual learning during and after each event using a well defined event analysis process is critical to the maturity of a BCP program

• The basis for a successful response effort starts with your ICS structure and ability to communicate at all levels during a disaster

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Sprint’s ICS/EMG Structure

Senior Vice PresidentNetwork Serv ices

VP Field Operations VP Network Operations

Emergency ManagementGroup Director

(John Quigley)

Logistics Section

Incident Commander(Field Operations Director)

Inf ormation Of f icer

Saf ety Of f icer

Liaison Of f icer

Circuit RestorationSection

Planning SectionImmediate Response & Restoration

Response Manager(Area Manager)

TransportEngineering

Data NetworkEngineering

Voice NetworkEngineering

CapacityPlanning

NetworkInstallation

NumberAdministration

Wireless Sites

AccessManagement

Access Serv iceDeliv ery

EMMC/SMC Prov isioning Translations

CorporateSecurity

Finance Human

Resources Legal Fleet

Administration Enterprise

PropertyServ ices

Supply ChainManagement

Onsite Commander(First Level Manager, or most

senior Sprint employee atlocation)

Response Team-Sw itch/RF/Fiber/CPE Technicians-InstallationTechnicians-RF Engineering

-Public Utilities

Offsite StagingArea

(if necessary)

Note: Field OpsPersonnel areassigned to thesepositions based onevent.

CommunicationsPersonOne person assignedto stay on conference

bridge at all times.

Unif ied Command

Customer Relations Of f icer

Note: The NetworkControl Centersprovide informationand support to theEMG LiaisonOfficers and EMGCircuit RestorationSection. NCC WNMC TSA ASA GSA BMC Packet Ops SS7-INS

NTAC National

Platf orms Facilities

Engineering &Mgmt

OSS RPMNote: These groupsare typicallyengaged prior to adisaster beingcalled.

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Actions to Consider

How can the Telecommunications industry and power industry best work together to improve reliability?

What level of protection should the Telecommunication Industry assume for remote sites?