/24-7PressRelease/ - McLean, VA, August 02, 2008 - At approximately 11:42am on Tuesday, July 29, 2008, an earthquake struck Los Angeles, California. With a magnitude of 5.4 and 27 aftershocks, the earthquake rattled buildings as far as San Diego and Las Vegas. The city's strict building codes prevented serious loses in infrastructure and housing. However, as emergency response teams, city officials, and individuals tried to communicate either with each other or with their loved ones, the capacity of the regional phone network was heavily strained. In fact, according to the Los Angeles Times, "The biggest strains were felt in phone and Internet systems, which buckled due to overwhelming demand in the minutes after the jolt." However, iCore, a hosted voice over IP (VoIP) provider based in Northern Virginia, is pleased to report that our customers in the Los Angeles metropolitan area were unscathed by the damage caused by the earthquake and were able to communicate with customers and family with no issues.
As iCore's dedicated account management team reached out to customers in Los Angeles and other areas in the region to inquire about their service, all customers reported no interruptions in neither their telephone or internet communications. Most notably, Swissport International, Ltd., a company that provides ground services for over 70 million passengers and 3.2 million tons of cargo a year on behalf of some 650 client companies, happily reported no disruptions. In fact, Eric Sindon, IT Manager at Swissport's LAX airport location claimed, "during the earthquake and during its aftermath the iCore phones and data network connections did not experience any loss of connectivity. As a result I was able to communicate all over the country in spite of the fact that the cell and analog networks were swamped to overcapacity within seconds after the shaking stopped. I was not able to make any calls on either of my cellular phones (I am on both AT&T and Verizon for backup) for almost 30 minutes but was able to use the VoIP phones to call out without any interruption at all. Additionally I was able to obtain information from the US Geological Service via the internet connection within seconds."
Swissport's story serves as a testament to the reliability and stability of the iCore system. Their choice of iCore as part of their disaster recovery plan proved to be a wise one, as it kept them in business when other companies in the area were struggling to communicate effectively.
Again, according to the Los Angeles Times, the earthquake's straining the capacity of the regional phone network was perhaps instructive for officials planning emergency responses to the next massive earthquake. However, Swissport's experience proves that officials aren't the only ones who should be mindful of natural disasters. Companies too, share a responsibility for implementing effective disaster recovery plans.
About iCore Networks
iCore Networks provides advanced application services focused on business communications needs using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technologies. VoIP allows organizations to have access to services and capabilities previously out of reach for most small to medium sized organizations. iCore services are provided through one of the most advanced and reliable networks built specifically to service business clients using VoIP technology.
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- and, communications, contingency, data, disaster, earthquake, hosted, network, planning, recovery, service, telephone, voice, voip
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