One of the most interesting areas of networking is the construction of a high-speed network for a single event - with all of the hardware, software, planning and hard work that go into building the network, running it for a week or less, and then tearing it down. Behind the conventions for the country's two major political parties currently in the news are impressive, large-scale networks - and temporary.

I've highlighted some temporary networks in this newsletter before, such as those at past Interop conventions. But it's hard to compare them to those of the political conventions. Not only are the numbers of attendees huge, but the stage is high in profile. If these networks have problems, everyone - everyone - is going to know about it.

Network World's Brad Reed profiled the network behind the Democratic National Convention that took place last week in Denver. He wrote that Qwest laid down 3,400 voice lines and 2,600 data lines at the Pepsi Center, running more than 3,300 miles of fiber-optic lines and 140 miles of copper cabling. The main pipe into the convention center ran at 40Gbps.

Network World's Ann Bednarz examined the network behind the Republican National Convention going on now in St. Paul, Minn. Apparently the Xcel Center didn't need as much of an upgrade, with Qwest - which is again the primary telecom provider - installing 25 miles of cabling. Still, it's interesting to hear (and see) the transformation of the hockey arena, a transformation that included converting the Zamboni room into office space for convention staff and changing 30 arena suites into media studios.

Check out Brad's and Ann's stories for more details. No matter if your underwear is red or blue, you've gotta admire the geeks who are really running the shows.

Jeff Caruso is site editor at Network World.