T 0.9 Failure or Disruption of Communication Networks

Many business processes nowadays require at the very least intact communication connections, be it telephone, fax, email or other services using local or wide area networks. If one or more of these communication connections are not available over a longer period of time, the result can, for example, be that:

• Business processes cannot be continued any longer because the required information cannot be retrieved,
• Customers cannot contact the institution for inquiries any more,
• Orders cannot be commissioned or completed.

If time-critical applications are run on IT systems which are connected via wide area networks, the possible losses and consequential damages due to a network failure are correspondingly high if no alternatives (e.g. connection to another communications network) are available.

Similar problems can arise if the required communications networks are disturbed even though they have not completely failed. Communication links can show increased error rates or other quality shortcomings for example. Wrong configuration parameters also can lead to impairments.

Examples:

• For many institutions the Internet has become an indispensable communication medium today, for the retrieval of important information, for representation purposes and for communication with customers and partners, amongst other things. Companies specialising in Internet-based services are of course eminently dependent on an operating Internet connection in particular.
• Benefiting from convergence of networks, voice and data services are frequently transmitted over the same technical components (e.g. VoIP). This however, increases the danger that at a disruption in communication technology leads to a failure of both voice and data services.