Internet connections suddenly vanished for Town Hall workers, teachers at Hildreth Elementary School, Harvard’s police and fire departments, and other town departments on Monday morning, Nov. 26. The stream of emails dried up, and Smartboards went dumb. School administrators in Bromfield House lost telephone service as well. Connections were not restored until around 1 p.m. on Wednesday.
The problem, explained information technology manager Chris Boyle, was in a 10-year-old piece of Motorola equipment, the cable modem termination system, or CMTS. This device, already a few years old when it was installed in 2005, had broken down once before, leading former information technology manager Mark LaVertue to warn that the town should have a back-up component, according to Town Administrator Tim Bragan.
“It’s not something you can go to Staples and pick up,” Boyle said, explaining that the device was a specialty item for cable companies, and that this model is no longer on the market.
Boyle briefly tried to repair the connection himself, but it quickly became clear that the component had to be replaced, he said. He reached the local Motorola service technician, who was able to supply a loaner board with which Boyle restored service on Wednesday, while the replacement part was on order. The newly purchased component arrived and was installed on Friday, Nov. 30.
The cost for the unit was $8,500, plus a required $1,500 one-year warranty and service contract, which was less than he had expected, Boyle said. According to finance director Lorraine Leonard, the cost will be split between the school and town technology budget lines.
“The next goal is to work with everyone for a redundant system,” Boyle concluded.
The town’s internet connection comes from Charter Communications into the Bromfield School and is distributed through the crucial piece of equipment (the CMTS) to all other town offices. Thus the Bromfield School did not lose its own connection to the internet, and Principal Jim O’Shea set aside some computers for staff members who needed to file state reports other urgent communication items.
For two and a half days, many town employees scrambled to improvise ways to access data, file reports, carry out lesson plans, and communicate with Harvard residents.
“Productivity dropped dramatically,” Bragan said.
Police Chief Edward Denmark said that, after the ice storm in 2008, he had gotten a Verizon Wireless hotspot subscription to internet service. Fire Chief Rick Sicard did the same after last year’s snowstorm. Office workers from Town Hall trekked to the fire station to check email periodically during the outage.
Denmark explained that police officers on duty were still able to run license plates or check outstanding warrants because they have a dedicated communication link with the state via cellular modem from their patrol cars.
“Officers on the street never lost contact,” Denmark said.
At Hildreth Elementary School, teachers had to drop the lessons they had planned and improvise. Some used their own cell phone internet connections, reported Associate Principal Gretchen Henry, but those plans were limited. Computer classes practiced keyboarding or used pre-loaded software packages for lessons.
“It was a big deal—it created a lot of stress,” Henry said.
Even student attendance is recorded through the internet, with elementary students tapping their names on a Smartboard as they arrive in the classroom. School nurses also file online reports of students who report to their offices with medical problems. And parents now send emails, not notes, to school when children will be leaving early for medical or dental appointments, Henry explained.
The schools expect to switch to a fiber optic system soon for their internet connections, but town departments will continue to use the existing system.
Asked about plans to update the system or build in redundant capacity, Bragan said that would be up to the IT manager. He said one possibility would be to sign up for one or more additional Verizon wireless subscriptions, but pointed out that each would cost about $400 a year.
The Harvard town website was unaffected, because it is hosted remotely by Virtual Town Hall. Town Hall workers were therefore able to put up an announcement on the website, explaining that they could not send or receive email.
Internet service at the Harvard Public Library was not affected either, as its connections are separate from the town system.
