Undersea
cable accident like the one which hit recently in the optical fiber submarine
communication system of SEA-ME-WE 4 can bring international trade to its knees.
That is because today businesses around the world by and large make use of the
services of Business to Business (B2B) portals. Any disruption due to cable
snaps or anything of that nature would inflict colossal damage to international
trade and thereby would trigger a price rise in exim commodities. B2Bs are
known as the state of the art vehicle global business and it is run by internet
services. B2B portals being an online entity provide international trade
services at greater speed and cost effectiveness.
More than a
decade of B2B portals existence, have drawn the attention of thousands of
international traders and a majority of them utilize the services of these
portals to the best effect. But incidents like the one which happened in the
gulf would bring to a standstill not only international trade but also other
services which depend on the internet. In the modern world it is hard to
pinpoint any interactive function which is done without the internet. B2B
portals basically help a trader to do one’s business, just being in one’s
office. In the day to day business a B2B based trader has to extensively use
the internet services. The portals are equipped with services that allow the
trader to present one’s trading need through the provided company profiles of
the respective trader.
The damage
to SEA-ME-WE 4 is a wake up call to the world as a whole. Initial reluctance by
the consortium with the same name to admit the damage, apparently shows the
intensity of destruction. The immediate measures taken by the consortium gives
a sigh of relief to the international trading community. This accident has
further prompted other service providers to take pre-emptive measures to avoid
such disasters in the future. The businesses especially in the undersea cabled
region had made severe losses due to the disruption of the services. It is
unimaginable to what extent the losses would have made by businesses if the
services were not resumed quickly.