The U.S. has already suffered from some brutal cold waves this winter. While our Austin IT business support clients may not find themselves buried under mountains of snow and ice very often, that’s no reason to dismiss the potential impact of winter storms and uncommonly low temperatures on various aspects of your organization – including your IT network. Let’s examine the potential barriers Old Man Winter can put up against your computers’ connectivity and online performance.

Cable damage - Fortunately, copper and fiber-optic wires don’t react to cold weather by changing their behavior. However, the ground that they run through can experience changes that place this wiring at risk. If temperature changes cause the ground to heave, the strain on the cables can tear them, breaking the connection and causing your Internet to go down.

Power outages - Even if your hardwired Internet holds together during the next big winter storm, the electrical system that powers that Internet may not. Texans saw first-hand what can happen to the electrical grid and individual power lines during serious winter weather.

Wireless network failures - Let’s assume that your area experiences no ground heaves or power outages during the next cold snap. You might still experience trouble if your network connectivity depends on wireless communication to any significant degree. For instance, snow and ice accumulation on satellite dishes can interfere with signal reception. Winter storms accompanied by high winds can knock a dish out of alignment.

Don’t wait for an unexpected bout of cold weather to knock your business offline and grind your productivity to a halt. Take the proactive, preventative approach by contacting Gravity Systems today. Out Austin IT tech support professionals can set you up with redundant Internet connectivity so that even if one network line fails, your fall-back line can keep you connected.