Taking a page out of AMC's Breaking Bad TV program where two planes collide due to a mistake from a distraught air traffic controller, Verizon Business is conducting a week-long disaster recovery exercise that highlights a similar scenario at its Ashburn, Va. facility.
Comprising both its wireless and wireline divisions, Verizon will simulate two accident scenarios. In the first accident simulation, mid-air collision between two planes has one large aircraft that not only crashes into a major facility at its Ashburn, Va. campus, but also causes damage to a Leesburg, Va. CO. The second accident simulation includes a chlorine leak from a tanker truck that causes damage to a key Ashburn-based data center, which prompts the deployment of Verizon's hazardous materials team.
Various teams from Verizon's wireline and wireless segments, including internal groups such as human resources and network operations and IT staff, will illustrate how they can work together to not only restore network service, but also take care of its employees.
"This is the first Verizon-wide event involving the wireline and wireless businesses," said Dick Price, director of Verizon Business Continuance and Emergency Management and the executive sponsor of the Major Emergency Response Incident Team in LightReading article. "In this event, there are so many different groups involved that we wanted a couple of opportunities to exercise the different type of programs."
Verizon does come to this week's simulation with plenty of real-world experience in dealing with both natural events (Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike) and human-caused events (the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon).
For more:
- see the release here
- LightReading has this article
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