A tiny router among enormous airplanes.
Back when internet service providers were built by people with screwdrivers instead of venture capitalists, we operated part of our little networking empire around an airport.
This was not your typical data centre.
There were airplanes.
There were helicopters.
There were hangars full of equipment designed to make things fly.
And somewhere among all that aviation hardware sat a comparatively small collection of networking equipment trying to bring the future to central Alberta.
An aircraft mechanic might walk past carrying a component worth more than our entire router installation.
Meanwhile, we'd be carefully examining a blinking green light.
"What's that thing do?"
"Provides internet connectivity."
"To what?"
"Well, that's the interesting part."
The airport had procedures for virtually everything. Aircraft movements. Maintenance. Weather. Safety. Fuel.
Computer networking, however, was still young enough that much of the operating procedure consisted of knowing which equipment not to unplug.
It was an extraordinary combination of aviation engineering and early internet improvisation.
The planes had flight plans. The packets were considerably more adventurous.