Steps Already Taken: New Laptops, More Officers Already Arrived

It just goes to show, there's nothing quite like a total network system failure -- such as the one to hit Los Angeles International Airport last month, stranding some 17,000 international passengers -- to light a fire under plans to overhaul that system.

By Christmas -- or even as early as Thanksgiving -- the entire customs computer network system at LAX will be redone, said Ken Ritchhart, assistant commissioner in the Office of Information and Technology with US Customs and Border Protection. The upgrade will be complete with new workstations, network switches, routers and cables, and even a new satellite backup system, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"Everything has been moved up," Ritchhart said. "We recognize the fact that having folks sit on airplanes for hours is not acceptable, so we have to look at new procedures . . . to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Nearly all the equipment due to be replaced has reached the end of its life expectancy, Ritchhart said. The workstations are about four years old, the network switches and routers six years old and cables about 20 years old.

As ANN reported, the US Customs and Border Protection system went down around 1400 PDT August 11. The resulting delays forced some planes to sit on the tarmac for hours... so long, in fact, that crews were kept busy refilling fuel tanks for the aircrafts' auxiliary power units.

The cause was eventually traced to a single malfunctioning local area network card. There was no backup system available.

The fast track effort will bring the $15.3 million dollar project to a close about nine months ahead of schedule, according to Ritchhart. The technical systems of the nation's 104 major airports and international border crossings will see the upgrade.

"The tangible steps that have been taken, they're encouraging, and, frankly, they're impressive," said Paul Haney, deputy executive director for airports and security for LAX operator Los Angeles World Airports.

"We actually have tangible evidence that this is being taken very seriously and there's a commitment to ensure that there is never a repeat of this nature."

Airport officials received 100 laptop computers a full week sooner than promised and 30 more customs officials have been allocated to help speed up passenger processing.

FMI: www.lawa.com/lax, www.cbp.gov