T 1.10 Failure of a wide area network

If time-critical IT applications are executed on IT systems connected via wide area networks, the damage and consequential damage arising from a network failure is severe if no counter-measures are implemented (e.g. linkage to a second communications network).

Due to the liberalisation of the domestic German telecommunications market, Deutsche Telekom AG is not the only company which now offers services for data and voice communications. Many other network providers, some of them very small, compete mutually and with Deutsche Telekom by offering low communications rates. Customers should therefore inform themselves about the actual quality of this service by requesting detailed information on backup strategies and contingency measures from the network providers.