Saturday, December 30, 2006

Tech - Internet Access affected by Taiwan Quake

The 7.1 magnitude earthquake which hit Taiwan on Tuesday damaged 6 undersea cables carrying Internet and other traffic. I have experienced problems with slow Internet access in the office and most of the time the rectifications take a few hours but this time round there was no access for 2-3 days. Only local sites and emails to local addresses were accessible, I was trying to conduct research on a deal but Google was down, I sent emails but they bounced back... on the other hand there were many people on leave, taking advantage of the long weekend holiday and nothing much was done in the end. Finally did some real paperwork to wrap up the year.... my accountants have been chasing me for the paperwork anyway!

Around the world, the disruption to the Internet had a more profound effect on some. In China, a student's hope of studying in the US is threatened as he has a deadline to file his application to study for his MBA in the US (International Herald Tribune).

It is interesting to note that the Taiwan earthquake comes exactly 2 years after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami.

Well thankfully, most Internet services are up and we have a long weekend ahead of us, going back to work only on Wednesday.

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