this was presented at the nanog in ... SF I think as well: <http://www.nanog.org/meetings/nanog49/abstracts.php?pt=MTU5NSZuYW5vZzQ5&nm=nanog49>
not really news... On Tue, Sep 21, 2010 at 6:04 AM, Eugen Leitl <eu...@leitl.org> wrote: > > http://www.itnews.com.au/News/232831,us-hunters-shoot-down-google-fibre.aspx > > Repairers forced to ski in to Oregon back woods. > > Google has revealed that aerial fibre links to its data centre in Oregon were > "regularly" shot down by hunters, forcing the company to put its cables > underground. > > The search and advertising giant's network engineering manager Vijay Gill > told the AusNOG conference in Sydney last week that people were trying to hit > insulators on electricity distribution poles. > > The poles also hosted aerially-deployed fibre connected to Google's $US600 > million ($A635 million) data centre in the Dalles, a small city on the > Columbia River in the US state of Oregon. > > "What people do for sport or because they're bored, they try to shoot at the > insulators," Gill said. > > "I have yet to see them actually hit the insulator, but they regularly shoot > down the fibre. > > "Every November when hunting season starts invariably we know that the fibre > will be shot down, so much so that we are now building an underground path > [for it]." > > Gill said that on one occasion, a snowstorm and avalanche prevented Google > from transporting repairers and gear into the area of the cut. > > It usually used a helicopter or a Caterpillar D9 tractor for transport. It > improvised by sending three technicians on skis to "repair the fibre that got > shot down". > > "These guys had to cross country ski for three days," Gill said. > > "[One guy] is carrying what is known as a fusion splicing kit on his > backpack." > > He joked: "These guys had to go in and fix the fibre while facing gunshots > > "So [the] internet... [it's] more dangerous than you realise." > >