Nov. 14, 2023
Memo to the Stuttgart Military Community by TKS
TKS aims to provide the U.S. military community with the highest-quality telecommunication products and services and has been dedicated to this mission for over 30 years. Over the past 12 months for example, TKS has heavily invested in the garrison’s on-post network in order to provide ultra-fast internet services with gigabit connectivity (1000 Mbps).
However, at this time we would like to address the unexpected and wide-reaching network outages that have severely impacted both the USAG Stuttgart and the greater Stuttgart area in recent months.
Furthermore, we will also outline steps that TKS has taken to mitigate further outages of this nature.
- The unscheduled and wide-spread regional outages were caused by independent third parties that are in no way affiliated or related to the garrison or to TKS.
- The interruptions were typically caused when a major underground optical fiber trunk was either damaged or completely severed at an off-post construction and excavation site.
- The outages impacted not only TKS and the Stuttgart military community, but also other carriers and service providers along with a large segment of the local-national population.
- Once reported, emergency repairs were conducted around the clock. Downtimes varied on a case-by-case basis depending on the extent of the damage.
Because of the wide-reaching impact on the garrison and our customers, TKS has implemented countermeasures designed to avoid future disturbances and also for enhanced and rapid communication should such an unexpected event ever occur again.
- TKS has rerouted USAG Stuttgart’s main optical fiber trunk in order to avoid the ongoing construction at the previous location, thereby avoiding any further potential construction damage.
- TKS has created a network redundancy or failsafe for the critical infrastructure that serves the USAG Stuttgart.
- TKS is working with local municipalities and public works authorities for better coordination of construction and excavation in areas that contain critical telecommunications infrastructure.
- TKS is developing and implementing a rapid-deployment reporting protocol designed to inform military command, customers, and all those impacted should a widespread network outage ever occur again.
TKS’s goal is to provide safe, secure, and reliable solutions that make it easy for service members to connect to family, friends, and country. And although local events in Stuttgart have thrown all of us some curveballs lately, we are confident that with your support we will be able to deliver on those promises.
Thank you to the Stuttgart military community, we truly appreciate your continued understanding and support.
TKS Director Sales & Marketing
TKS Regional Sales Manager