Arson at Manchester POPs latest - businesses recover

NEWS Businesses in the Manchester area are recovering from the arson attack which knocked out communications in the Salford Quays part of the city. In the early hours of Tuesday morning attackers damaged nine points of presence using wheelie-bins filled with flaming petrol. A BT spokesman told silicon.com that customers shouldn't be seeing any ongoing problems as a result of the attacks. He added that there is still damaged fibre to be repaired but workaround means all connections should be working again for end users. Ordinary PSTN services had been fixed in a short time. Your Communications, previously Norweb Communications and a carrier closely associated with the region, was the other telco whose infrastructure was affected. Gary Clarkson, Your Communications operations director, said there is a considerable amount of work still to be done but there should be very little, if any, further disruption to customers. Meanwhile other service providers are saying the events highlight the need for companies to have strong back up and recovery plans. TeleCity, for example, is advocating the use of carrier neutral datacentres by end user businesses. Greater Manchester police are continuing their investigations into the attacks and the telcos involved are also urging people to help the police with their enquiries.