Bugs in the Network

[Charles]

[SIZE="4"]Cicadas causing Internet headache[/SIZE]

While Internet firms often grapple with man-made worms, Japanese telecommunications companies have been working on ways to counter a natural Internet pest of their own--cicadas.
Across western Japan, kumazemi cicadas have been disrupting Internet service by piercing fiber-optic cables during the summer months to lay their eggs.
Kumazemi usually lay eggs by using their ovipositors to pierce tree branches. However, in urban areas, where the cicadas have been increasing in number, they have instead been depositing their eggs into fiber-optic cables.
Data transmission is interrupted even by slight damage to fiber-optics. Although this only affects the users of the specific lead-in cable, and can be easily recovered by changing cables, telecommunication firms are usually unaware of the problem because people mistake data traffic disruption for busy lines or even computer malfunctions.
NTT West Corp. handles cable maintenance from Shizuoka Prefecture westward, which overlaps with Kumazemi habitats. The firm discovered about 1,000 cases in which the cicadas damaged fiber-optic cables last year in its business territory, not including the Hokuriku and Sanin regions.
According to K-Opticom Corp., the Kansai Electric Power Co. telecommunications subsidiary that maintains fiber-optic networks in the Kinki region, it has found about 200 instances of damage to its cables from the cicadas.
Telecommunications firms have therefore begun taking precautionary measures, such as introducing new groove designs to help make cables damage-resistant, before the cicada season begins. NTT West began using the new cables this year in areas where damage has been frequently reported.
Shigehiko Shiyake, curator of Osaka Museum of Natural History, said: "Kumazemi cicadas prefer thin dead branches as breeding places, and it seems like the fiber-optic cables are also ideal for them to lay their eggs. "However, there's no way to keep the cicadas away from cables, so preventive measures should be concentrated on the cables."
Kumazemi, the biggest cicada variety in Japan, are common on warm plains and typically grow to about six or seven centimeters long. They have also recently been found in areas around Tokyo and the Hokuriku region, but their numbers are still believed to be small and there have been few reports of damage so far.
Instead, metropolitan areas including Tokyo are having their own problems with crows, which are apparently working out their stress--or even just playing--by pecking at lead-in cables.