At the very beginning of the major lockdown in March 2020, everyone asked themselves “Will internet hold out?”. From decision-makers to teleworkers, obliged to work from home using the management techniques of digital infrastructures, we all feared the “pipes” would burst under too massive and sudden a demand. However, after some adjustments (temporary and voluntary degradation of bandwidth passing via YouTube and Netflix, for example) and in spite of some difficulties (saturation of National Education distance learning platforms faced with a great number of simultaneous connections, particularly on Monday mornings), the “pipes help out”. This resistance was essential: in the first critical moments and as the French and Ile-de-France population was entering into the unknown experience of the epidemic and a “hard” lockdown, it was extremely important that the infrastructure bear the strain so that social and economic life could be transferred to digital platforms.
This “reliable maintenance of networks” (energy, water and telecommunications) was not, however, pure luck. It was made intrinsically possible by political decision-makers, operators and managers having set up operational strategies that render infrastructures adaptable and resilient. These “business continuity” policies, which include crisis scenarios, enable, when anticipated, the best possible management of peaks periods and use congestion.
The health crisis has allowed hypotheses to be checked and has given us first hand experience of flaws and an opportunity to verify the strategic importance of our material and immaterial infrastructures in order to “think resilience” and anticipate, as much as is possible, the next crisis.
