Internet glitches: Backlog caused BlackBerry outage

Over time that backlog has built up and affected our other systems: RIM software vice president.

OTTAWA: A backlog of emails to Europe from the Asia and the Americas caused the outages affecting BlackBerry users to spread to North America and elsewhere, Research In Motion (RIM) said on Wednesday.

“It is a backlog issue,” RIM software vice president David Yach told a press conference. “Clearly we have a backlog in Europe... As you can imagine, with the global reach of Blackberry and people using it to contact others around the world, there’s a lot of messages to Europe from Asia and the Americas,” he said. “Over time that backlog has built up and affected our other systems.”

The glitches that impaired messaging, emails and Internet browsing in Europe, the Middle East and Africa on Monday had spread to India and South America on Tuesday and now to Canada and the United States.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2011.