<p dir="ltr">Yep..we see them everyday at the ICANN meetings and even though we thank them for their support of the equipment and other services they provide, it is only a small acknowledgement of how much these guys really do during our sessions.</p>
<p dir="ltr">We all know how much these guys already do for us during the ICANN meetings but this story about the aftermath of the fire really highlights through one experience just how amazing and dedicated the ICANN technical team is across all areas of their work. Thank you to Ash for bringing to our attention and acknowledging what people other than policy makers in ICANN do to help bring ICANN to the masses.</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On 27/10/2016 7:07 am, "Alan Greenberg" <<a href="mailto:alan.greenberg@mcgill.ca">alan.greenberg@mcgill.ca</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<b>ICANN57: A Real-Life Audio-Video Disaster Recovery Story<br>
<br>
</b>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.<br>
<br>
After Helsinki, we were starting to get prepared again...when we got the
<a href="https://www.icann.org/news/blog/fire-on-cargo-ship-affects-it-equipment-bound-for-icann57-hyderabad" target="_blank">
news</a> 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.)<br>
<br>
Let me share this remarkable disaster recovery story.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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).<br>
<br>
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
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h-qRxFLZF4" target="_blank">time-lapse
video</a> from ICANN49 to see just how much goes into setting up an ICANN
Meeting.<br>
<br>
I wish everyone safe travels if you’re heading to India and hope to see
many of you soon – either iin person or online.<br>
<br>
Ash</div>
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