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KPNQWest Admins Keep Bankrupt Network Running

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the beyond-the-call-of-duty dept.

sebastianw writes "Some of the network administrators from KPNQWest, although they have been (apparently) ordered to shutdown the network, took over control of the KPNQWest NOC. They are trying to keep the network running and keep customers up, regardless of KPNQWest's insolvency. The company warned on Thursday that they would be forced to shut down KPNQwest's entire European data network on Monday unless its customers paid their bills in full immediately." There's a related story on the Register, talking about the possible effect on UK internet access. If anyone needs to hire some network engineers...

4 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. Re:At least it's efficient by Sorthum · · Score: 5, Informative

    For a day or so, you can keep most large networks running with only one person or so. I work in a NOC that handles access for over 2000 sites, and for nights and holidays (weekends too), we have exactly one person here.

    Though when things go bad, we have other people on call-- it can get hectic.

    So if all goes well, they could hold out for quite some time (until something important breaks).

  2. Re:How? by mnordstr · · Score: 5, Informative

    They only need to keep it running for a short time, KPNQwest is trying to find a buyer for the network. Let's hope it finds one, as the european Internet will suffer a huge bandwidth shortage if the network goes down.

    As a KPNQwest customer myself, I'd like to say that they've provided a great service over the years. This is absolutely the best ISP ever, no real outages, great customer service (as you might have noticed). It's a real shame it turned out like this.

  3. Re:How bad will it be? by ceejayoz · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes, it is designed to route around damage, but this isn't damage - it's the whole network going down at once.

    Take a look at this map and you'll see the problem...

  4. Finnish KPNQwest standing by to re-route by Judge_Fire · · Score: 5, Informative

    Interestingly, our local KPNQwest is leaving the mothership and this seems to be happening elsewhere, too.

    On the Finnish company's page they state they're ready to re-route traffic and do what it takes. KPNQwest Norway got bought by Catch Communications and this might be the fate of the others, too. Seems Nokia is already on board as a customer.

    http://www.kpnqwest.fi/yritys/uutiset/uutinen200 20 607.shtml (in Finnish)

    Anyone got more on this?
    J