X marks the spot
Vocabulary
| facility | apparatus | as much as |
| plant (2) | at the end | malfunction |
| reduce | overall | generation (2) |
| minor | identify | efficiency |
| invoice | clipboard | determine (2) |
| gauge | itemize | felt marker |
| climb | replace | sure enough |
| smock | meter (2) | take off (2) |
| ladder | assemble | disassemble |
| render | capacity | surrounding |
| bill (3) | enormous | even though |
| dial (2) | after all | reason (2) |
| fee | couple (2) | stand around |
| detect | excessive | break down |
| staff | major (3) | lose/lost/lost |
| output | revenue |
The Data Center
The Kensington Data Center had been in operation for twenty years. Costing 350 million dollars to construct, it provided data storage for billions of websites, accounts, individuals, businesses and organizations around the world.
One evening the engineers detected a sharp reduction in the speed and efficiency of operations. They troubleshot the system . . . but try as they might, they could not solve the problem.
Apparently, they were dealing with a hardware malfunction, somewhere in the servers. But no one there could identify or locate it.
The center’s technical service department was inundated by messages and calls from frustrated clients.
The Expert
Add so the center director contacted a professor of data server engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to see if he could determine what was wrong.
The professor agreed to assist them.
When he arrived the following day, he put on a white coat, took his clipboard, and went to work.
The center’s engineers filled the professor in with what they had seen and done. The professor then examined hundreds of dials and gauges in the control room and on the floor, taking notes and making calculations.
X
After two-and-a-half hours, the professor took a black felt marker out of his pocket, climbed up a ladder, and put a large, black “X” on one of the ports of a server.
“This is where the problem lies,” he explained. “Component RC698-46LCQ51163LB is defective. Remove, and replace it with a new one — and the server will be fixed.”
The professor then took off his white coat, took a taxi back to the airport, and flew away.
Get to Work
The engineers got to work; they opened the server, located the component, and discovered that, sure enough, it had indeed been defective, and the root cause of all the mayhem.
They replaced it — and the data center resumed running as usual, if not better.
By this time, hundreds of millions of dollars had been lost by individuals and entities due to reduced or blocked traffic flow.
About a week later, the data center director received a mail. It was from the professor. He opened it. Inside was a bill — for one million dollars for services rendered.
“WHAT?!” said the director out loud. “This is wayyyyyyy too much!”
After all, the director reasoned, all the professor had done was stand and walked around for a couple of hours, written a “X” on one of the gauges, then promptly left.
A million dollars seemed like a high fee for such a simple task!
The director then wrote back to the professor:
“We have receive your bill. Could you please break down and itemize your charges. It seemed that all you did was write one “X” on a single gauge.
A million dollars seems far too excessive for this amount of work.”
Some days later, the director received a new invoice from the professor.
It said,
One. For placing ‘X’ on gauge, $1.00
Two. For knowing exactly where to place the ‘X’, $999,999.00
Questions
Smartphone. This story took place at a smartphone assembly plant. True or false?
Phablet. What happened one day? Could the engineers fix (repair) the malfunction?
Tablet. What did the data center director do (to fix the problem)?
Notebook, Labtop. The professor actually repaired the problem. Is this right or wrong? What did he do?
PC, Desktop Computer. What did the engineers do? The technicians . . . . . . .
Mainframe Computer. The finance department of data center dealt with the professor’s service fees. Is this correct or incorrect? What happened a week later? A week later,
Cloud Computing. Did the data center director agree completely? How did he feel?
Data Center. What did the director do? What did the professor do?
Cyberspace. Was the professor “cheating, ripping off, scamming, or swindling” the data center? What is the moral or lesson of the story?
App, Platform. Do you feel that you sometimes get overcharged, swindled, scammed, or ripped off?
Blog, Website. Who earns beaucoup-bucks? What kind of individuals earn big bucks?
Browser. Are there people in your field or industry that earn lots of money? Why are they earning so much money?
Social Media. Do you know anyone who is similar to the consultant in the story? Do you have any friends, former classmates or colleagues who are earning top dollars due to their expertise? What is his or her trade? What is her or his specialty?
Online Transactions. How could you earn top dollars in your field or profession?
Communication Tool. What might happen in the future?
