In May 2007, the USDA National Finance Center (NFC) identified the need to remove all unused cabling from the sub floors of its primary production center in New Orleans. The target was two computer rooms that had been reported to contain up to 28 years of cable layers.
The CompuCure Site Survey Team drew the attention of the NFC to the existence of at least one potential single point of failure that could impact an unknown number of customers on both floors of the NFC facility. The Team observed a second floor fiber access column that had a minimum of 35 and possibly more fiber cables that appear to be pulled at right angles to the column as they exited the column. At most, a user group might notice the loss of information packets and irregular, minor disruptions in data flow. As time passes, however, the web of micro fractures can result in a catastrophic failure.
As long as the fiber is not disturbed, the likelihood of catastrophic failure remains relatively low. The increased probability of such failure will occur when it becomes necessary to disturb improperly installed fiber. The CompuCure Team took precautions to mitigate the loss of function in any live cable, and ultimately avoided any disruption in connectivity that was very likely to have occurred.
The project was completed 40% early and 40% under budget projections. In citing the effort as one of several that contributed to the selection of CompuCure as the United States Department of Agriculture as its HUBZone Contractor of the Year in June 2008.