Extreme Weather—Is Your Network Vulnerable?

Whether hurricane season, winter storms or summer wildfires, extreme weather events seem to constantly be in the news. Their frequency and severity seem to increase every season. Across the United States, utility grids are suffering interruptions during these events. These utility grid interruptions are, in turn, highlighting the vulnerability of cable broadband networks to extended utility power outages. Homes and businesses depend heavily on the internet connectivity provided by these networks and have grown to expect reliable network availability. Pressure is consequently growing on multiple-system operators (MSOs) to solidify their distributed hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) networks against more significant power outages by extending runtimes. While longer runtimes at any HFC network site can be achieved by adding generators, batteries, or both, it is not always that simple.