Apart from what I call the Mihoogle (Microsoft/Yahoo/Google) situation (see previous post), software and internet issues also hit the mainstream media headlines last week following damage to undersea cables linking large parts of the internet.
As BIW has expanded internationally, such problems have also affected our business: until Indian-based ISPs could reroute traffic around the Egypt breakage, our connections with BIW’s Indian development and support office in Vadodara battle slowed dramatically. There were further problems in the Red Sea on Friday when it was discovered that a cable off the coast of Dubai had been cut, and, over the weekend, another cable, between the UAE and Qatar, was also reported to be damaged – prompting some bloggers, a little tongue-in-cheek, to suggest a conspiracy to disrupt the internet (see Nicholas Carr’s Who cut the cables? for example).
Update (08 February 2008): Latest reports suggest the breakages should be repaired this weekend.
