Joseph Pennell, the prolific illustrator who often depicted the cityscape of Lower Manhattan in his prints, called the New York Telephone Building "the most impressive modern building in the world" when it was completed in 1926.
How antiquated it now seems.
The 32-story structure at 140 West Street, one of the city's first Art Deco skyscrapers, is now owned by New York Telephone's descendant, Verizon Communications (news/quote). And the heavy damage the building sustained on Sept. 11 underscores the vulnerability of communications networks operated by Verizon and other telephone companies -- sprawling systems that rely heavily on critical hubs.
In the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, it became commonplace to comment on how well the Internet performed because it was designed to route traffic around damage. But the telephone network, including the dedicated data lines that are used by big corporations, financial institutions and others, does not have the Internet's self-detouring abilities.
When they work, the telephone network's voice and data lines can be superior in quality and carrying capacity to the Internet. Yet when the telephone network is damaged, it cannot heal itself.
And while Verizon has worked almost around the clock the last month to restore operations at 140 West Street and service to its customers, the company has indicated that significantly reducing the building's network vulnerabilities would require more time or money than Verizon is willing to expend.
Verizon's building was near the north tower of the World Trade Center and next door to 7 World Trade Center, which collapsed several hours after the attacks. Falling rubble and steel girders tore into 140 West Street, which housed one of the nation's busiest telephone central office switching stations. When fully operable, it serves a customer base comparable in number with all the telephone lines in a city the size of Cincinnati.
After electric power for the building was interrupted, service was temporarily disrupted for more than 300,000 telephone lines and 3.6 million high-capacity data circuits, many serving the New York Stock Exchange, large financial institutions and other companies in lower Manhattan. A gaping hole was torn in a seventh-floor exterior wall, exposing and damaging huge communications switches dedicated to the information needs of the banking company J. P. Morgan Chase.
In the last month, Verizon has labored to restore service or provide new service for customers that have moved to other parts of the city or to New Jersey. Virtually all of the fiber optic lines and copper strands that had wound their way under the streets and sidewalks and into 140 West Street are being replaced. Some circuits have been rerouted to other Verizon central offices in Lower Manhattan.
"The ideas we previously had about diversifying our networks have become much more important," Lawrence T. Babbio Jr., Verizon's vice chairman, said in an interview last week as he led a small group of journalists on a tour of 140 West Street.
Until last month, the most obvious reasons for network disruptions were natural disasters like hurricanes or floods. Now, though, Verizon and other telephone companies must worry about the possibility of physical attacks on their installations. Mr. Babbio warned last week that significant harm could be done to the nation's communications system if terrorists destroyed the 50 or 100 most important central offices.
Verizon, which is the dominant telephone company on the Eastern seaboard and operates in 30 states overall, is seeking to increase security at its central offices, where it is required by federal law to lease network access to its competitors. After Mr. Babbio issued his warning last week, competitors said they would resist tighter security measures if it made it more difficult for them to conduct operations within Verizon's central offices.
Beyond physically shielding their switching centers, phone companies can protect their communications networks from direct attacks or peripheral damage from nearby attacks by routing voice and data traffic to other parts of their own networks or those of other companies.
But Mr. Babbio said that it would take Verizon five years to build alternate pathways for all the telephone lines that wind their way into and out of the New York Telephone building. And Verizon has no plans to do so.
The reason may be a simple cost- benefit analysis. Despite its primacy to Lower Manhattan's communications network, the central office at 140 West Street accounted for less than 1 percent of the traffic on Verizon's nationwide network.
"So much of the activity on networks takes place at dispersed locations," said Roy A. Maxion, a system scientist at Carnegie Mellon University. "But the fact remains that we're vulnerable even after putting redundancy systems in place due to the physical nature of connecting to our networks. The issue should be what level of risk you're willing to live with."
Assuming they are willing to spend the money, business customers can achieve redundancy, or surplus and backup capacity, by running cables to several different central offices or, in some cases, by using several different communications carriers. Several of Verizon's competitors, in fact, have benefited from the disruptions by signing up new customers in Lower Manhattan.
"Identifying potential failures in networks is not easy," said Joe Flach, vice president of the Eagle Rock Alliance, a consulting company that provides advice on disaster planning. "The most important thing to avoid is putting all of your eggs in one basket."
Only after Sept. 11 did executives from the financial services industry in Lower Manhattan come to realize just how many of its eggs were in that one 75-year-old building.
Mr. Babbio recalled having to explain the situation at a meeting in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, Sept. 12, at the Park Avenue offices of the investment bank Bear, Stearns. Executives and government officials present included Richard A. Grasso, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange; Harvey L. Pitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Richard S. Fuld, chief executive of Lehman Brothers (news/quote); John A. Thain, a president of Goldman Sachs (news/quote); and Peter R. Fisher, under secretary for domestic finance at the Treasury Department.
The group was not happy when Mr. Babbio said how long it might take to restore basic service. Mr. Grasso had been hoping to reopen the stock exchange on Thursday or Friday. The following Monday now seemed ambitious.
"It was not an easy meeting," recalled Mr. Babbio, who spoke with the group immediately after visiting the disaster site, where his clothes had picked up the odor of smoke and ash. "I smelled awful after coming back from downtown. No one wanted to sit next to me."
At school i walk into the math office at about 9:30AM to scan my book in. On the radio i hear something about the WTC and planes crashing into them... I assume this is some sort of computer game someone is playing and not the real radio.
5mins later an announcement comes over the loudspeaker about NYC and the pentagon...
My school principal's son in law worked at the WTC, and at 2:30PM she still did not know whether he was alive... This is deffinately not cool.
If those guys had something against the government, then i can understand the attacks on the pentagon, but the WTC? Why? There were civilans there!
It's hard to imagine what something like that would feel like until it acutally happens... this has been a strange day.
Either Dmitri, Dmitry or Dmitriy is the correct way to spell it. While this name is spelled only one way in Russian, there are many ways to spell it in English... Probably the closest pronounciation would be "Dmitriy."
is that too many people graduate from high school. Look at other countries, you have to actually study to pass the final exam. A slacker like me who gets a C+ average can still get a diploma in the US school system. This is WRONG!!! All you Americans are saying "Russia and China suck!!" but nevertheless the education system (especially in the science and mathematics departments) is a lot better in Russia and China! People have to actually study to get a diploma, or else no matter how much money you put into the schools, the results won't change.
When all of the power is held by the government or when all the power is held by large companies? Seriously though... wasn't America supposed to be about freedom and stuff? Oh well, I could always go back to Russia...
This is a huge step forward for linux... but ofcourse my high school still uses macs... and not just macs... iMacs! What kind of idiot came up withthat computer? GRRRR!!!
Sorry just venting... i hate those colourful pieces of crap!
Hopefully we will install some sort of *nix by the time I'm a senior!
I got a question though: What are they going to do about taking work home? Not every kid has a copy of StarOffice or AbiWord at home...
What is depressing is the ammount of violence in the news (on the internet as well as on TV.) It's not a matter of whether there is more violence now than there was 20 years ago. It's the fact that people are more interested in it. Now THAT'S depressing. ---
I assume these web site will be run for white, middle class, american, christian kids. After all, what is decent in America could very well be indecent and even illegal in other countries. These websites would need to be monitored closely for obvious reasons (child abusers, etc.). As far as i see, stick to nickelodeon.com and websites like that. No need to get.kids, ya know? ---
anything to do with this article but... Upon getting home and cracking open gAIM I recieved a small pop up window that said "AOL error" "Your connection may be lost." My connection was NOT lost...yet.
Anyway, I got a packet sniffer checking all incomming connections to my computer from the AIM server and I don't see anything fishy... Might this be part of AOL's "opening up to other servers" or just my bad installation? ---
Slashdot Mirror
This is called the Elastic Clause... Certain parts of the constitution can be ignored if it is used.
For example, it was used during WWII to send all those Japanese Americans to camps out in the midwest.
Linux is dying...
Someone had to say it!:)
Joseph Pennell, the prolific illustrator who often depicted the cityscape of Lower Manhattan in his prints, called the New York Telephone Building "the most impressive modern building in the world" when it was completed in 1926.
How antiquated it now seems.
The 32-story structure at 140 West Street, one of the city's first Art Deco skyscrapers, is now owned by New York Telephone's descendant, Verizon Communications (news/quote). And the heavy damage the building sustained on Sept. 11 underscores the vulnerability of communications networks operated by Verizon and other telephone companies -- sprawling systems that rely heavily on critical hubs.
In the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, it became commonplace to comment on how well the Internet performed because it was designed to route traffic around damage. But the telephone network, including the dedicated data lines that are used by big corporations, financial institutions and others, does not have the Internet's self-detouring abilities.
When they work, the telephone network's voice and data lines can be superior in quality and carrying capacity to the Internet. Yet when the telephone network is damaged, it cannot heal itself.
And while Verizon has worked almost around the clock the last month to restore operations at 140 West Street and service to its customers, the company has indicated that significantly reducing the building's network vulnerabilities would require more time or money than Verizon is willing to expend.
Verizon's building was near the north tower of the World Trade Center and next door to 7 World Trade Center, which collapsed several hours after the attacks. Falling rubble and steel girders tore into 140 West Street, which housed one of the nation's busiest telephone central office switching stations. When fully operable, it serves a customer base comparable in number with all the telephone lines in a city the size of Cincinnati.
After electric power for the building was interrupted, service was temporarily disrupted for more than 300,000 telephone lines and 3.6 million high-capacity data circuits, many serving the New York Stock Exchange, large financial institutions and other companies in lower Manhattan. A gaping hole was torn in a seventh-floor exterior wall, exposing and damaging huge communications switches dedicated to the information needs of the banking company J. P. Morgan Chase.
In the last month, Verizon has labored to restore service or provide new service for customers that have moved to other parts of the city or to New Jersey. Virtually all of the fiber optic lines and copper strands that had wound their way under the streets and sidewalks and into 140 West Street are being replaced. Some circuits have been rerouted to other Verizon central offices in Lower Manhattan.
"The ideas we previously had about diversifying our networks have become much more important," Lawrence T. Babbio Jr., Verizon's vice chairman, said in an interview last week as he led a small group of journalists on a tour of 140 West Street.
Until last month, the most obvious reasons for network disruptions were natural disasters like hurricanes or floods. Now, though, Verizon and other telephone companies must worry about the possibility of physical attacks on their installations. Mr. Babbio warned last week that significant harm could be done to the nation's communications system if terrorists destroyed the 50 or 100 most important central offices.
Verizon, which is the dominant telephone company on the Eastern seaboard and operates in 30 states overall, is seeking to increase security at its central offices, where it is required by federal law to lease network access to its competitors. After Mr. Babbio issued his warning last week, competitors said they would resist tighter security measures if it made it more difficult for them to conduct operations within Verizon's central offices.
Beyond physically shielding their switching centers, phone companies can protect their communications networks from direct attacks or peripheral damage from nearby attacks by routing voice and data traffic to other parts of their own networks or those of other companies.
But Mr. Babbio said that it would take Verizon five years to build alternate pathways for all the telephone lines that wind their way into and out of the New York Telephone building. And Verizon has no plans to do so.
The reason may be a simple cost- benefit analysis. Despite its primacy to Lower Manhattan's communications network, the central office at 140 West Street accounted for less than 1 percent of the traffic on Verizon's nationwide network.
"So much of the activity on networks takes place at dispersed locations," said Roy A. Maxion, a system scientist at Carnegie Mellon University. "But the fact remains that we're vulnerable even after putting redundancy systems in place due to the physical nature of connecting to our networks. The issue should be what level of risk you're willing to live with."
Assuming they are willing to spend the money, business customers can achieve redundancy, or surplus and backup capacity, by running cables to several different central offices or, in some cases, by using several different communications carriers. Several of Verizon's competitors, in fact, have benefited from the disruptions by signing up new customers in Lower Manhattan.
"Identifying potential failures in networks is not easy," said Joe Flach, vice president of the Eagle Rock Alliance, a consulting company that provides advice on disaster planning. "The most important thing to avoid is putting all of your eggs in one basket."
Only after Sept. 11 did executives from the financial services industry in Lower Manhattan come to realize just how many of its eggs were in that one 75-year-old building.
Mr. Babbio recalled having to explain the situation at a meeting in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, Sept. 12, at the Park Avenue offices of the investment bank Bear, Stearns. Executives and government officials present included Richard A. Grasso, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange; Harvey L. Pitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Richard S. Fuld, chief executive of Lehman Brothers (news/quote); John A. Thain, a president of Goldman Sachs (news/quote); and Peter R. Fisher, under secretary for domestic finance at the Treasury Department.
The group was not happy when Mr. Babbio said how long it might take to restore basic service. Mr. Grasso had been hoping to reopen the stock exchange on Thursday or Friday. The following Monday now seemed ambitious.
"It was not an easy meeting," recalled Mr. Babbio, who spoke with the group immediately after visiting the disaster site, where his clothes had picked up the odor of smoke and ash. "I smelled awful after coming back from downtown. No one wanted to sit next to me."
I would really love to see DX support in linux. But I don't think that this will be possible until linux gets a wider range of users...
I believe CD is 320... the highest mp3s ive seen were 320... just a guess!
Personally I think that if you find doing this too complicated, you shoudln't even be allowed near a computer!
none
O yea, being 15 it sucks considering almost everyone at my school listens to all that MTV-hyped shit...
Nevertheless, I think that in the near future good music will come out into the mainstream (or semi-mainstream)...
Porn is illegal in Afghanistan I believe... so hence the e-whoreHouse...
Where would we "go" to find porn? I bet someone will put an e-whoreHouse in a country like Afghanistan or something just for fun.
At school i walk into the math office at about 9:30AM to scan my book in. On the radio i hear something about the WTC and planes crashing into them... I assume this is some sort of computer game someone is playing and not the real radio.
5mins later an announcement comes over the loudspeaker about NYC and the pentagon...
My school principal's son in law worked at the WTC, and at 2:30PM she still did not know whether he was alive... This is deffinately not cool.
If those guys had something against the government, then i can understand the attacks on the pentagon, but the WTC? Why? There were civilans there!
It's hard to imagine what something like that would feel like until it acutally happens... this has been a strange day.
Why were you arguing on the internet anyway? That's just pretty stupid...
Anyway, personally I prefer a good ol' text editor for most things.
Maybe the only text editor that guy has ever seen was the one that is brought up by the `edit ` command in DOS?
Either Dmitri, Dmitry or Dmitriy is the correct way to spell it. While this name is spelled only one way in Russian, there are many ways to spell it in English... Probably the closest pronounciation would be "Dmitriy."
is that too many people graduate from high school. Look at other countries, you have to actually study to pass the final exam. A slacker like me who gets a C+ average can still get a diploma in the US school system. This is WRONG!!! All you Americans are saying "Russia and China suck!!" but nevertheless the education system (especially in the science and mathematics departments) is a lot better in Russia and China! People have to actually study to get a diploma, or else no matter how much money you put into the schools, the results won't change.
Where I come from, PDA stands for "Public Display of Affection"...
Most of the music CDs I burn (over 90%) are not owned by the RIAA and some are not even bound by copyright laws which prohibit copying.
What are they gonna do? Come to my house and take away my CD burner and my vast collection of Russian rock?
When all of the power is held by the government or when all the power is held by large companies? Seriously though... wasn't America supposed to be about freedom and stuff? Oh well, I could always go back to Russia...
This is a huge step forward for linux... but ofcourse my high school still uses macs... and not just macs... iMacs! What kind of idiot came up withthat computer? GRRRR!!!
Sorry just venting... i hate those colourful pieces of crap!
Hopefully we will install some sort of *nix by the time I'm a senior!
I got a question though: What are they going to do about taking work home? Not every kid has a copy of StarOffice or AbiWord at home...
What is depressing is the ammount of violence in the news (on the internet as well as on TV.) It's not a matter of whether there is more violence now than there was 20 years ago. It's the fact that people are more interested in it. Now THAT'S depressing.
---
I assume these web site will be run for white, middle class, american, christian kids. After all, what is decent in America could very well be indecent and even illegal in other countries. These websites would need to be monitored closely for obvious reasons (child abusers, etc.). As far as i see, stick to nickelodeon.com and websites like that. No need to get .kids, ya know?
---
anything to do with this article but... Upon getting home and cracking open gAIM I recieved a small pop up window that said "AOL error" "Your connection may be lost." My connection was NOT lost...yet.
Anyway, I got a packet sniffer checking all incomming connections to my computer from the AIM server and I don't see anything fishy... Might this be part of AOL's "opening up to other servers" or just my bad installation?
---
Well, what I... err the KGB usually does is ship them away to a hard-labour camp for 14 years.
---
Or anyone else who wasn't arrested in their own country for that matter!
...but mostly Russians! :D
---
Isn't it "Somebody set up us the bomb?"
Oh like I shoudl talk, my sig misquotes that thing anyway:-P
---
OK, look! Jurasic Park has dinosaurs! Dinosaurs are fun! Legally Blonde has dumb chicks! Those are not fun!
Eat my nuts, Witherspoon! GRRRR!!!
---