[ALAC] ICANN57: A Real-Life Audio-Video Disaster Recovery Story - ICANN Blog by Ash Ragan

[Alan Greenberg]

ICANN57: A Real-Life Audio-Video Disaster Recovery Story

Very few people realize what it actually takes to 
make an ICANN meeting run smoothly from the 
Network Operations Center backroom, where the 
InfoTech team orchestrates its magic with high 
energy. You’ve probably experienced the 
excellent remote capabilities to encourage 
diverse participation, good wifi on site, and 
generally, things run smoothly so you can focus 
on the real issues and discussions at hand. And this is a good thing.

After Helsinki, we were starting to get prepared 
again...when we got the 
<https://www.icann.org/news/blog/fire-on-cargo-ship-affects-it-equipment-bound-for-icann57-hyderabad>news 
that there was a fire aboard the ship which 
contained our equipment being transshipped from 
Helsinki to Hyderabad. (Spoiler alert: I’m 
pleased to confirm all equipment is now in 
Hyderabad, and the team is setting up for what 
will again likely be an excellent meeting.)

Let me share this remarkable disaster recovery story.

When we began preparing for ICANN57 months ago, 
it was all fairly routine. We packed and shipped 
all of our technical equipment in a 40-foot and 
20-foot sea container which included: 80+ crates 
containing over five miles of network cables, 
over 400 microphones, 650 international power 
strips, 75 MacBooks. We were preparing to get 800 
mbps of bandwidth, at least two Internet service 
providers with redundant paths, and more.

Within a week of the fire, we were told that the 
40-foot container was in good shape, but the 
20-foot container had possible damage from the 
fire and would be held for further inspection in Germany.

We were instantly struck by the unique dimensions 
of this extraordinary incident. A fire on-board a 
seafaring container cargo ship, while the ship is 
docked in Germany, en-route to India. We also 
discovered how complicated the whole situation 
was given the ship belongs to an international 
company, the contents belong to a US corporation, 
the forwarding-agent is based in the US with 
inspection-rights governed by (200+ year old) 
maritime laws and with Insurance brokers and 
adjusters involved from both sides of the 
Atlantic. The multi-national dimensions of this incident were quite remarkable.

We immediately made back up arrangements. Having 
catalogued exactly what was in each crate, we 
enacted two plans: a) a short-term plan to 
purchase replacement equipment so ICANN57 
experiences no disruption; and b) a longer-term 
plan to work with insurance brokers (under 
maritime law) to recover the ‘stuck’ 20-foot 
container. This took a lot of work in a short 
amount of time, given the sophistication of our 
gear, which in total cost ICANN about $700,000 
USD of unplanned expenses (the equipment itself plus shipping and other costs).

But the real story is that of the ICANN InfoTech 
team. The manner in which this fire incident was 
handled is just another example of the 
professionalism and dedication that the ICANN org 
team members take to ensure we support the 
community. I am so proud of our team for working 
days, nights and weekends to work with every 
supplier, replace all equipment as well as pack 
it (our office was a bit of a mess!) and make 
arrangements to have it air-lifted to India. This 
was all to ensure that equipment would arrive in 
Hyderabad in time so that there will be no 
disruption to our service we provide at ICANN57. 
Take a look at this 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h-qRxFLZF4>time-lapse 
video from ICANN49 to see just how much goes into setting up an ICANN Meeting.

I wish everyone safe travels if you’re heading 
to India and hope to see many of you soon – either iin person or online.

Ash 
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