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ZeroNines Press Coverage
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What You Need to Know About NEBS
By Mike Karp - Enterprise Management Associates
April 17, 2003
In North America, telephone communications has become something
we almost never think about. A good part of the reason for this
is something called NEBS.
NEBS is the abbreviation for the Network Equipment Building
System, a set of technical requirements with one basic purpose:
to make network switches bulletproof. The standard was developed
internally at Bell Labs - and later, at Bellcore (now Telcordia
Technologies) - in the days when it was the "deep think" part of
the Bell Telephone system (and you thought it only helped bring
us Unix!) Does it work? You bet.
Telephone companies starting with Ma Bell and then, after
divestiture, the "Baby Bells" (now called RBOCs - regional Bell
operating companies) and LECs (local exchange carriers) rely
almost entirely on NEBS-compliant hardware for their central
office telephone network switching. Doing so assures them that
the equipment they buy meets clearly identified standards
regarding temperature and humidity, resistance to fire,
equipment handling, earthquake survivability, vibration (both in
the office and when being transported), airborne contaminants
and acoustic noise.
Recently, a few vendors, including Dot Hill and Sun have offered
NEBS storage systems as well. Additionally, some service
providers such as ZeroNines provide client companies with
continuous data access by relying on NEBS-compliant switches
within their data assurance infrastructure.
If you are interested in knowing more about NEBS, a detailed
description of compliance requirements is available at
If you look at vendor sites, keep in mind the following:
There is a difference between products that are "NEBS certified"
and those that are "NEBS compliant", although the distinction
may only be that "compliant" products have not been submitted
for the appropriate set of tests.
A more important differentiator is the three levels of NEBS,
which offer enterprises varying levels of assurance:
* Level 1 is aimed at office class environments, and is intended
to minimize system degradation. Generally, it is used for
prototyping and for noncritical systems.
* Level 2 is a rarely referenced middle ground intended for
"failure tolerant services." It should be fine for data centers
that are confident they can provide a controlled environment (if
you know of one of these, please let me know), but doesn't apply
to disaster recovery.
* Level 3 addresses the needs of "carrier class" environments in
telecomm-speak. We data center folks, much more humble, tend to
refer to this as "bulletproofing." Look here for maximum
availability for critical systems.
Clearly there is a big difference within the standard at these
three levels. Is the extra value going to be meaningful to your
site? In this case, as in most others, it makes sense to invest
in what is appropriate, and to avoid overbuying.
Many managers don't know much about NEBS, and some may never
require it. But if your shop needs to be resilient in the face
of an earthquake that measures 8.3 on the Richter scale, or if
you are subject to lightening strikes that hit 15,000 volts, or
if you are simply the kind of manager who feels most comfortable
when wearing both a belt and suspenders, it is a given that NEBS
Level 3 is for you.
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