BlackBerry Outage Stretches into Third Day – RIM Still Working on Fix

 

The outage RIM is experiencing for the last two days is now into its third day. Last night RIM said they were working through the backlog and from what I am hearing users in Europe, Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina are still experiencing severe issues. From what we are hearing and from carrier reports the issues are still hours away from being fully resolved.

I have been hearing multiple rumors of what exactly happened and what RIM is doing to fix it beyond their announcement of a “core switch and subsequent backup failure” but feel free to speculate or share the reasons you are hearing in the forums!

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RIM: “BlackBerry Outage Caused by Core Switch Failure” Now Working Through Backlog

RIM let the AP News know that the reason for the prolonged outage in the EMEA region for the last two days is because of a “Core switch failure.” You would think that they would have a redundant hot or cold core switch but according to RIM the “transition to a backup switch did not function as tested, causing a large backlog of data… RIM said it is now working to clear the backlog and restore normal service as soon as possible.”

Amen to that! Next time maybe we need a backup for the backup for the backup?

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Updated: RIM Apologizes for “Delays in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina”

The BlackBerry outage saga continues in the EMEA region. RIM has been their usual quiet self about the situation and an ETA for a fix. At least they have been confirming the issue both yesterday and today and apologizing for it on Twitter and a few other places. Now they have at least come out on their forums and given us a better understanding of the scope while apologizing once again:

Some users in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, India, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina are experiencing messaging and browsing delays.  We are working to restore normal service as quickly as possible.  We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

^Bo – Community Administrator

Donald pointed out that you can keep an eye on the status on T-Mobile UK’s service status page. Now if only RIM would provide regular users an estimated ETA just like enterprise users get for T1 support…

The N4BB team managed to score the communications that RIM have been sending to carriers:

Latest update from RIM sent to carriers…

Initial notification sent to carriers…

SERVICE(S) AFFECTEDService Name: BlackBerry ServicesStart Date/Time: 11-Oct-2011 10:58:00 GMTDuration: OngoingRegion of Impact: EMEAState of Service: Severely Degraded% of Subscribers Affected (estimated): 50Service Impact: Subscribers may experience delays in sending or receiving messages, roaming in another location, or using other services such as Internet browsing or instant messaging. Subscribers may also be unable to create new accounts, integrate third-party email accounts, or use BlackBerry subscriber web sites. Devices may not receive new service books. BlackBerry-enabled devices that request a new PIN may not receive a PIN. BlackBerry Enterprise Servers may be unable to connect to the BlackBerry Infrastructure. Wireless service providers and device resellers may experience delays in using BlackBerry administration web sites, creating subscriber accounts, or provisioning services for subscribers. [00017]

Estimated Time to Resolution: Approximately 4 hours

Action(s) Taken:  BlackBerry support teams have been engaged and are working toward resolution as quickly as possible.

Thank you for your patience during this time.

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BlackBerry BIS Service in EMEA Region Go Down Again

We told you yesterday about a huge outage RIM had in the EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa) region but RIM managed to get things back up and running by the end of the day. Now we are hearing multiple confirmed reports that it went down again sometime between 7-8AM EST this morning for EMEA users and is still down. I am hearing that an ETA for a fix is still 2-4 hours away so hopefully they stomp this bug fast. According to the Telegraph this outage happened in RIM’s data center in Slough, Berkshire which serves this region.

Some are suggesting that this is the last straw for users but I doubt it. They simply want it fixed ASAP and fixed for good. RIM was supposed to put in quite a few countermeasures to allow for redundancy between their datacenters but it looks like that has failed. Hopefully they finally nip this issue in the bud ASAP.

BTW anybody else noticing that BIS integration with Gmail in the US is MUCH faster? I am seeing read/unread sync and folders/stars syncing in seconds or minutes. I am also seeing sent messages in my inbox instantaneously and receiving messages almost as fast as BES service.

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Caída del Servicio BlackBerry en EMEA

Mal día hoy para RIM, vaya otro de tantos en el último año debido a las críticas que recibe últimamente por todo, esta vez es porque se ha caído el servicio de BlackBerry durante unas horas interminables. Ha sido casi todo el día de hoy, desde las 11:00 AM, y parece que a estas horas el servicio BlackBerry va restableciéndose.

Los emails empiezan a entrar, pero todavía no está restablecido del todo. Yo sigo, por ejemplo, sin BlackBerry Messenger  

Esperamos que en poco rato se restablezca el mismo y volvamos a la normalidad que durante mucho tiempo ha mantenido con calidad la gente de RIM Europa en su NOC que está situado en UK.

Aunque quizás después de dicha caída muchos, me incluyo en ellos, esperamos que RIM explique cuál ha sido el problema de dicha interrupción del servicio. Un día sin servicio BlackBerry para muchas empresas es simplemente un día perdido de trabajo y con los tiempos que corren es algo que a nadie le gusta sufrir en sus carnes. La transparencia en la comunicación de dicha caída, su posterior resolución y comunicación es sin duda para mucha gente motivo de dar de nuevo la confianza a RIM y a su servicio BlackBerry. Vaya que con un mensaje en la Twitter diciendo que hay problemas y que sienten los mismos y pidiendo disculpas no es suficiente.

Esperemos que esta pisada de mierda, y perdón por las palabras, que últimamente se ha convertido cada una de las cosas que hace RIM (dicho por algunos medios, aunque desde aquí no compartimos muchas de ellas) se convierta en un camino de suerte también por dicho motivo también, es decir por el hecho de pisar mierda, pero ……que no tarde en llegar que el patio no está para muchas esperas y retrasos

BlackBerry BIS Outage in EMEA Region?

 

We have been hearing reports this morning from users in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) region that they are having BIS issues. We are not sure if this has to do with the recent BIS 4.1 update but it looks like that. Lucas over @N4BB spotted a confirmation by UAE carrier Du confirming that RIM has a service degradation in the area. Service does not seem to be totally out but degraded for ~50% of customers which is a huge deal.

You can watch Du’s updates on Twitter here. Here is what they have had to say so far:

• We’re fully aware of the ongoing degradation with BlackBerry services. We’re working with RIM to rectify the outage soonest.
• We received updates from RIM confirming BB services in Europe, ME & Africa are affected starting 09:19 GMT today & degradation is ongoing.
• The level of impact is gradually improving, and as we speak, approximately 50% subscribers are effected in those regions.
• Subscribers may experience delays in sending or receiving messages, roaming, or using other services such as Internet browsing or IM.

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1 millón de nuevos suscriptores del servicio BlackBerry en 3 semanas en EMEA

RIM publicó ayer un Tweet donde informaba y daba a conocer los datos de crecimiento de los suscriptores de la zona de EMEA en las últimas 3 semanas. Y eso que según lo analistas RIM no está atravesando su mejor momento y todavía no tenemos entre nosotros las nuevos dispositivos

Y Patrick Spence, Managing Director, EMEA, Research In Motion comenta al respecto:

"Gracias al más de un millón de nuevos clientes que se han unido a la comunidad BlackBerry en Europa, Oriente Medio y África en las últimas tres semanas. Estamos entusiasmados con el momento que venimos experimentando en EMEA, y apreciamos los enormes esfuerzos que realizan nuestros partners en el desarrollo de aplicaciones, operadores, distribuidores y puntos de venta, que nos han ayudado a conseguirlo. BlackBerry sigue siendo la marca de smartphonesnúmero uno en diferentes mercados donde estamos presentes, incluyendo Holanda, Sudáfrica y UK, donde también continuamos siendo el número uno tanto en cifra total de unidades vendidas, como en prepago. Nuestros smartphones, incluyendo los smartphones BlackBerry Bold y BlackBerry Curve, lideran la lista de ventas en
países como EAU y Arabia Saudí, y recientemente hemos anunciado los resultados del del primer trimestre con un crecimiento interanual en ingresos globales del 67%. Aquí en EMEA, continuamos centrados en mejorar la experiencia de los usuarios existentes y dando cada día la bienvenida a los cada vez más miembros de la comunidad BlackBerry".

RIM Adds 1+ Million New Subscribers in EMEA Region in Less than 3 Weeks

Things are looking up for RIM outside of the US. They announced on Twitter this week that they have blow past one million new subscribers in the EMEA (Europe Middle East & Africa) in less than 3 weeks. That is about 50,000 activations a day in that region alone. I have been really surprised to see the growth RIM is seeing even though they have yet to release a significant new device is over a year. This should all get much more interesting when the whole new lineup launches starting with the BlackBerry Bold 9900 when RIM has new wares to hock.

Thanks to everyone that sent this in!

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Develop for BB7 Webinar Today – EMEA & Asia Pacific Webinars Announced

Developers! In case you missed it somehow or forgot RIM will be holding a webinar today on “what you need to know to develop for BlackBerry 7.” That webinar is at 2PM EST today! Head on over to this link for details.

We forgot to mention in our previous post that RIM has announced the dates for their EMEA and Asia Pacific versions of the webinar that are more convenient for developers in those time zones. Here are the details:

EMEA:  Thursday July 7, 2011 at 2:00 pm BST

webcast.streamlogics.com/audience/index.asp?eventid=73027544

Asia Pacific:  Wednesday July 13, 2011 at 12:00 pm HKT

webcast.streamlogics.com/audience/index.asp?eventid=19724237

Let us know what you learn from the webinars!

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