Introduction
In this article, we address potential external infrastructure risks, particularly cable damage, that might form part of an organization's IT risk management and business continuity planning, with reference to both Zensai’s architecture and Microsoft’s cloud resilience model.
Zensai services are delivered as a SaaS solution hosted entirely on Microsoft Azure.
Impact assessment
Potential impact from cable disruptions
Zensai services are hosted in Microsoft Azure datacenters, using Microsoft‑managed global networking.
Microsoft’s global backbone network is designed with multiple independent physical paths and geographic diversity, reducing dependency on any single cable or route. If a cable is damaged is broken, traffic is routed via other channels with no impact to the customer.
Disruptions to fiber‑optic cables don't directly impact Zensai systems because Zensai doesn't operate or depend on region‑specific private network links.
Expected customer impact
Service availability and data access are expected to remain unaffected in normal scenarios.
In extreme, large‑scale global connectivity events, users might experience temporary latency or degraded performance, but data integrity and security aren't impacted.
Data residency and integrity
Customer data remains stored and processed in the configured Azure regions according to contractual and regulatory commitments.
Cable incidents don't result in data loss or unauthorized data movement.
Network and architecture resilience
Microsoft Azure global network design
Zensai relies on Microsoft Azure’s globally distributed cloud platform, which includes:
- A private, global fiber backbone network connecting Microsoft datacenters worldwide.
- Multiple redundant network paths between regions and continents.
- Automatic traffic re‑routing if a network path becomes unavailable.
- Continuous monitoring and active network management by Microsoft.
Regional isolation and fault containment
Azure regions are designed to be independently resilient, limiting blast radius from external connectivity incidents.
Regional services aren't dependent on a single international cable or transit provider.
Zensai application architecture
Zensai’s application stack is designed to be stateless where possible and to rely on Azure platform services for availability, scaling, and resilience.
Zensai doesn't manage its own global WAN or peering infrastructure. Instead, resilience is inherited directly from Microsoft’s cloud architecture.
Business continuity and incident handling
Incident monitoring and response
Zensai continuously monitors service health using Microsoft Azure monitoring and alerting capabilities.
We subscribe to and actively monitor Microsoft Service Health notifications and advisories.
If a Microsoft‑reported incident has customer impact, Zensai assesses relevance to our services and customers.
Communication
In the event of a service‑affecting incident, Zensai communicates via established customer communication channels, including the support portal and service notifications.
Updates are aligned with verified information from Microsoft to ensure accuracy and consistency.
Service levels and recovery expectations
Zensai service availability commitments are defined in our contractual SLAs.
Recovery and resolution timelines in such scenarios are governed by:
- Microsoft Azure’s incident response and restoration processes.
- Zensai’s own internal incident management and escalation procedures.
NOTE
Zensai doesn't provide separate SLAs for internet‑level or global telecommunications outages beyond our control, consistent with standard SaaS industry practice.
Workarounds and mitigation measures
Platform‑level mitigation
Microsoft Azure automatically handles traffic rerouting and failover at the network layer without customer intervention.
No manual action is typically required from customers during such events.
Customer actions
Customers don't need to switch regions or activate alternative endpoints in normal scenarios.
End‑user experience may depend on the customer’s own ISP and local network routing, which is outside Zensai’s control.
Data protection
Backups, redundancy, and data protection controls remain in effect throughout such incidents.
There is no requirement for customer‑initiated data recovery actions unless explicitly communicated by Zensai (which would be highly exceptional).
Summary
Zensai services are built on Microsoft Azure’s globally resilient cloud infrastructure.
Cable disruptions in specific regions don't pose a direct or systemic risk to service availability or data integrity.
Microsoft’s global network redundancy, combined with Zensai’s SaaS architecture and incident management processes, provides strong resilience against large‑scale connectivity disruptions.
How to get notified of incidents in specific regions
For information about how customers can keep up to date with service incidents in specific regions via the Zensai service health status page, see this Help Center article.