Network

We have a bunch of network people hooking up a bunch of equipment at work.  This is normal for big companies to go through this kind of thing. I’m right down the hall and I help them hunt down connections and wires and such. I helped put in some of the equipment. I’ve learned a lot about big companies and the background behind the scenes stuff that happens.

• People who design the system do not bear responsibility for failures in the wrong equipment showing up.
• People who order the equipment do not bear responsibility for failures in the wrong equipment showing up.
• People who deliver the equipment do not bear responsibility for the wrong equipment showing up.
• People who install the equipment do not bear responsibility for the wrong equipment showing up.

Noticing a trend here. None of those sets of people overlap.

Who designed the setup, who ordered it and who shows up to install the network are three different contractors who have never spoken to one another.

I overheard the following from one of the installers speaking to a tech on the other side of the phone call. “What was our motive for using this router?” This is not encouraging because this tells me the installer has no clue what this piece of equipment is doing on the rack.

I’ve looked at the tornado of wires in some installations of networking equipment and wondered why they needed all the bits of equipment to connect a couple computers together. Well, now I understand about 10% of what is going on. That is just about enough to feel the butterflies in my stomach when they hit the power  button for the first time.