NBC Aims For Stability Through Redundancy In Athens

Darren writes "With the Athens Olympics just 27 days away NBC is gearing up for a massive 1210 hours of coverage (that's enough to watch TV over 50 days of Olympics 24/7). The infrastructure needed to provide such coverage is huge, and the potential for problems is significant. As a result NBC are taking all precautions possible and over the 17 days of competition they will utilize three satellite network linkups and three land-based connections to ensure they always have a connection. The mind boggles at what it is all going to cost - but I'm sure their advertising revenue will make it worth their while."

Comments

Yes but...

[k4_pacific]

Will they eb covering the math competition?

Re:Yes but...

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Will they eb covering the math competition?

That's about as likely as an Olympic Spelling eeB.

Re:wow

[mattjb0010]

Just check out the Athens soccer stadium!

In case of nuclear terrorism

[Anonymous Coward]

Do they have a redundant Athens standing by?

Re:In case of nuclear terrorism

[identity0]

Why, as a matter of fact, they do! Why don't y'all come down here to have a look-see? It's as good as the real thing, Ah swear!

Yeesh, who wants to go over to see some ruins in Greece when you can get all the culture you want down here? We just got our second Wal-Mart, it's quite a sight! I don't know why they even host the olympics in some other country, as if Greece has some olympic prestiege over good 'ol Georgia...

Redundancy isn't the only point of success.

[rice_burners_suck]

NBC's idea of redundancy might sound like a good one at first, but according to the Department of Redundancy Department, redundancy has its risks as well. First and foremost is the risk of a false sense of security. For example, if the satellite gets shot down, then their three links to the satellite won't be worth the paper they're printed on.

solve all problems using the Slashdot method

[Jrod5000 at RPI]

it's easy! afraid of losing a broadcast? simply submit a duplicate broadcast! if both get through, blame Taco!

I mean what the hell, it works for slashdot!

And after?

[Trailwalker]

Let's get this into perspective - if you were to watch those 1210 hours end on end you'd be watching 50.4 days worth of television around the clock!

Death would be a mercy after that.

Re:Why the indirect linkage via a blog?

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe the editors wanted to encourage redundancy :-)

Re:wow

[billygr]

You forget that we are the Greeks.... Everything will be ready 5 minutes before the start of the olympics

Re:How can eunuchs participate?

[Anonymous Coward]

1980 Moscow Olympics. Before the women's swimming competition, an East German swimmer and a Bulgarian swimmer are in the bathroom together. The Bulgarian swimmer is shaving her face with an electric razor. The East German swimmer looks into the mirror, touches her (own) chin and asks the Bulgarian swimmer if she can borrow the razor.

"No," says the Bulgarian swimmer and kicks the East German swimmer in the nuts.

Congratulations, Darren.

[croddy]

you got your personal olympics blog linked on the front page of slashdot.
now go upstairs, your mom needs some help in the kitchen.

1210 hours of programming? Bring it on!

[fprefect]

I've got my TiVo configured with an external RAID and terabytes of storage, I'm ready -- bring it on!

Re:All that redundancy means absolutely nothing...

[ThatsNotFunny]

Helloooooo! That's what the frickin' TORCH is for...