Is Internet A Potential Enemy Weapon?

In the countries that are building the blocks of their economy, Internet acts
as a magic wand to information assimilation and dissipation. What has caused
people to raise questions about this mode of information is the numerous breaks
(numbers vary between four to seven) in the Internet cable that have affected
the Gulf and India, and have caused sizeable commotion. Those breaks have
affected more than 85 million Internet users in India, Pakistan, Bahrain, Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Sudan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. But it seems
to have had no effect on the Internet users in other countries. This has raised
serious questions about our intellectual strength and even security our
communi­cation infrastructure.

Reports say that it was anchors of ships crossing the water channels that
caused the disruption. But sources also say that there was nil marine traffic in
most of these regions. Since most cable cuts lay next to certain nations, it is
probably not simply a case of infrastructure or economy. More so because reports
of ship anchors cutting cables under the sea have not been established so far.

Shiraz Datta

Under such a scenario, we should be cautious about where we could be headed
if an incident could disrupt business for days and if our intelligence is not
equipped enough to manage a sabotage of this magnitude.

Millions of jobs are being outsourced to Indian shores, and bright lads of
the country are picking up opportunities with arms wide open. Is this trend
creating enemies for the economy? Are there potential enemies trying to create
hurdles or even pack up the systems to be not able to grab a bit of the global
economical pie.

The biggest bearers of this threat, therefore, could be the outsourcing
industry. The Indian BPO/ITeS industry depends purely on connectivity and when
the support of this backbone is withdrawn at any point, the breakdown is
unfathomable.

Outsourcing generates streams of revenue and jobs for the Indian youth. They
and the whole India shining story can be severely affected with serious
repercussion that an incident like this can create. With the fall of the Dollar,
the struggle is poor enough. Add to it the commotion of technical faults or
mishaps and we have the recipe for a collapse.

“I don't think it's a situation of gloom for the industry; its instead a
situation of cautious­ness for the industry,” Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro
said recently. Companies needn't panic about the appreciating rupee but about
preparing themselves well for what is to come. With annual growth rate of nearly
30 percent in the past 10 years, Indian IT industry has been resting in peace.
India has provided a bulk of talent and spearheaded some of the greatest
software developments any country has provided. The stats for future look
encouraging, provided the industry works together to sustain its growth.
However, I would surely agree with analyst who says, “It's time to gear up. If
we don't change fast, we may very well be headed for a fall.”

India shining story sustaina­bility depends upon the efforts to ensure how we
all-the government and corporate cumulatively can work to augment it. India
dominance in the outsourcing started with cost arbitrage, as major factor
however took on things like process expertise, knowledge, etc to ensure its
long-term success. However, a major detrimental factor with India has been its
fundamental infrastructure, its development and in certain ways the rate of its
development.

Even if we spare the outsourcing industry for a moment, there are numerous
other places where cables being cut can disrupt business. The exchanges will
take a definite hit, as we recently witnessed. The banking system will go for a
toss and billions will be lost simply managing the damage thereof. According to
Nasscom figures, Indian software and services exports could be earning $60
billion by 2009-2010. With possibilities like this, it is difficult for the
industry to take such a heat over so many days.

The outsourcing industry is said to be the biggest bearers of the Internet threat

It's best if we wake up and smell the smoke. Even if we are to believe that
some natural or marine issues are to blame, all of us who depend on the Internet
minute-by-minute also need to secure it from all potential threats. It was a
blessing that Indian companies were able to avoid the crisis using alternate
land and satellite solutions. Even in the future, large companies with
well-developed backup plans for disaster recovery and continuity might not get
affected that much vis-à-vis companies that do not have adequate infrastructure
to support. But it is a sign that is jeering companies to improve or update
their infrastructure. Maybe our infrastructure is not fit enough to undertake
natural or manmade calamities of such kinds.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is already in discussions with the
three primary owners of under-sea cables in India-Bharti, Reliance
Communications and Tata-managed VSNL to set-up some sort of a mechanism to make
our communication network more hard wearing. What companies need is to look at
this issue with a microscope.

If we look at the corporate scenario that is a sufferer here and that can do
with an immediate solution, one possibility emerges. What went wrong this time
and needs urgent attention is the synergy that Internet service providers can
create if they work in tandem. It would be a good idea for them to come together
to create a synergy that allows them to cooperate in such times when either
could be the tormented party. At the same time, the end consumer will be served
better, which is the end requirement of all the service providers.

Anything or everything, from e-mail, instant messaging, blogging, virtual
operation theater, can stop in a split of second. It is undoubtedly a 'potential
disaster without any war or weapon'.

(The author is Manager-Marketing, India Operations, Cincom)