Reliability plays an important role in the service industry. For example, to provide virtually
uninterrupted communications for its customers, American Telephone and Telegraph
Company (AT&T) installed the first transatlantic cable with a reliability goal of a maximum
of one failure in 20 years of service. The cable surpassed the reliability goal and was replaced
by new fiber optic cables for economic reasons. The reliability goal of the new cables is one
failure in 80 years of service