Enhancing network resilience

Providing robust infrastructure

The Internet is now an essential infrastructure for both industry and daily living, and if this infrastructure were disabled by a natural disaster, accident or cyberattack, for example, our lives would be deeply impacted. As a pioneer of Internet in Japan, IIJ is committed to building a strong network that will serve as the foundation for industry, education and daily life, and to delivering stable service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Building stable Internet infrastructure

Japan's largest robust backbone network

IIJ's backbone network comprises many network operation centers located in major areas in Japan, and the centers are connected with large-capacity high-speed digital lines. In addition to Japan, IIJ also operates in Asia, North America, and Europe. And by interconnecting with major overseas ISPs, we have built networks with superior quality and high reachability.

To improve the stability of both our backbone network and the Internet as a whole, we are working day and night together with internet communities around the world to respond to cyberattacks that include DDoS (*) and unauthorized operations on routes, as well as network device vulnerabilities that occur online on a daily basis.

• (*)DDoS: A type of cyberattack in which the perpetrator floods the target host (computers, etc.) with overwhelming numbers of packets, causing it to stop functioning.

• Backbone Network

as of Mar 2024

Responding to disasters

IIJ has focused on disaster preparedness to ensure we can continue to provide services to customers if a disaster or other unexpected event strikes. Furthermore, applying the lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, we formulated a three-year plan to review IIJ’s business continuity plan (BCP) as a company-wide effort. Even after reorganizing the BCP operation system, we regularly redesign it and conducts drills and review training scenarios based on past incidents (*) to continually improve the plan. To raise employees' awareness of crisis management, we post information on the BCP on the intranet to ensure it is well known, and have a backup system in place in case of an emergency.

• (*)Incidents: events such as virus infections and information leaks that could lead to serious accidents.

Maintaining services and support

Assuming that various types of disasters and failures could occur, IIJ has built redundancy into the backbone network with multiple communication lines and equipment.

We hedge risks in various ways so that a single point of failure does not cause a service outage. This is achieved through preparing multiple systems to the extent possible, ranging from network carriers that are used as backbone and their physical cable routes, to submarine cable systems in international sections and locations where those cables can be pulled up.

Backbone schematic

Designed to secure communication routes across Japan and overseas in the event of an extensive disaster, even if one of the hub bases—Tokyo, Nagoya or Osaka—stops functioning

What’s more, anticipating disasters as extensive as the Great East Japan Earthquake, IIJ has dispersed key hub bases among Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. This means even if one of these sites stops functioning due to a large-scale disaster, the remaining two locations will be able to secure communication routes for throughout Japan and overseas. At the same time, the routes between the bases are also distributed around the Sea of Japan route, the inland route, and the Pacific route, and are designed so that the optical fiber will not be cut off as much as possible even if a widespread disaster strikes.

These measures allow the backbone network to remain functional even in the event of a major disaster.

Countermeasures for earthquakes and power outages at data centers

Data centers are crucial locations that house servers for IIJ’s services and customers’ cloud infrastructure. IIJ operates service facilities at data centers equipped with earthquake and power-failure countermeasures so that businesses can continue operating even in the event of a large-scale earthquake.

IIJ’s Shirai Data Center Campus and Matsue Data Center Park have been rated highly by third parties in terms of earthquake risk mitigation, with a PML (Probable Maximum Loss) scores of 6.4% and 1.2%, respectively. In addition, by receiving power from multiple lines from substations, IIJ can respond to transmission-line failures. We have also installed emergency generators and storage batteries in preparation for power outages so that businesses can still function even if a large-scale disaster strikes.

• lithium-ion storage batteries

Technological development to prepare for communication failures

Recently, mobile telephone network outages lasting hours have occurred across the country. They have affected the use of IoT devices and electronic payment terminals using mobile telephone networks, as well as users of the affected carrier. It is necessary to deploy technology to secure telecommunications even during failures.
IIJ has developed multi-profile SIMs that can connect to multiple mobile telephone networks with a single SIM card to secure Internet communications, which is becoming increasingly important as social infrastructure.

• IIJ Develops Multi-Profile SIM That Enables to Connect to Multiple Cellular Networks

Support for local communities

Support for customers and local communities when disaster strikes

As both a member of the local community and a provider of telecommunications services that can serve as a lifeline in the event of an emergency disaster, IIJ assists everyone affected by disasters. In the past disasters, IIJ has lent communications equipment to public institutions and partially exempted communications charges from individual users living in the affected areas.