Letter to a friend
from Jean Devos
Designed with full redundancy! No reason to be proud!! I accuse! Everyone who has been involved in the TAT14 story knows the reasons of such mess: Poor design of the project, poor management of the procurement process, an overcommitted supplier! I see the same pattern back again. I accuse the purchasers when they request “the impossible” from the suppliers. I accuse the purchasers when they failed to do their own work, their own analysis of each supplier capability, strengths and weaknesses, then being unable to evaluate properly the offers. I accuse the purchasers who refused consortium offers that were designed to better satisfy their needs, suspecting them of all kinds of dark intention.
TAT 14 story – Never again please!
If not, our business will meet huge difficulties!
“J’accuse”
Our submarine cable activity does not forgive easily. It requires quality, professionalism, reliability; all this relies on people, on competent people, on dedicated and committed people.
You may remember this famous article published in Paris in 1898, in the middle of the Dreyfus story, written by Emile Zola, entitled, “J’accuse”. In certain occasions, somebody needs to stand up and shout, “Stop please”. So, I am saying so today: “Stop this story – TAT14 – never again, please.”
The TAT 14 loop suffered recently from an almost full shutdown, with failures occurring in the same time in both cables! And this is only the last event on an already long list of problems, including repeaters failure! This is the sad reality of a carrier’s cable, on the historical transatlantic highway!
I accuse the suppliers when they lie on their capabilities, when they offer what they cannot do, when they accept unfair terms and condition. I accuse suppliers when their priority is clearly at killing their competitor instead of serving properly their customers. My dear friend, I urge our community to work at establishing clear “rules of the game”. If not, we will see the law of the jungle again from which everybody will suffer.
Cooperation is much needed at this moment!
Jean Devos Sport, not war… please! 36