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BlackBerry Outage Over but Brand Takes Hit By Mark Long October 14, 2011 1:23PM     The worldwide outage was caused by a core switch failure at RIM's network operation center at Slough in the United Kingdom, according to analyst Francisco Jeronimo. To rebuild its brand reputation, the BlackBerry maker needs to explain why it took so long to replace a broken switch as well as why RIM's "fail safe" backup switch didn't work.   Related Topics BlackBerry Research In Motion Apple Latest News Google Buys Into Wind-Power Drones Kim Dotcom Claims Two-Factor Patent HP PCs Aim for Flexibility, Mobility Twitter Hoping To Halt Hack Attacks Viva Movil! Buy a Phone from J.Lo BlackBerry services around the world operated at normal levels Friday. Research In Motion completed restoration work on the company's network infrastructure just hours after RIM co-founder Mike Lazaridis apologized to BlackBerry smartphone users in a video posted at the company's Web site Thursday. Still, industry observers say RIM needs to undertake several measures to regain its former reputation as a provider of highly reliable and secure mobile services. "RIM has faced outages in the past, but never on such a large scale and not for so long," said IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo. "This outage harms BlackBerry's brand reputation and raises a number of questions that RIM needs to address." Unanswered Questions Many multinational companies, governments, police forces and private individuals adopted the BlackBerry because the phones were generally perceived as the best e-mail and messaging mobile service. "During the 9/11 terrorist attacks, BlackBerrys were the only handsets working [in New York City]," Jeronimo said. "And after the disaster the American government and police forces adopted BlackBerrys as their primary handsets." However, the BlackBerry platform's brand status as a solid and secure platform was blown away by this week's unprecedented outage, which swept through Europe, the Middle East and Africa beginning Monday, spread to some Latin American countries and India on Tuesday, and extended into North America on Wednesday. "The question that corporations, mobile operators, and users are now asking [is] how reliable is RIM's infrastructure, architecture and service," Jeronimo said. The worldwide outage was caused by a core switch failure at the company's network operation center at Slough in the United Kingdom, according to Jeronimo. To rebuild its brand reputation, the BlackBerry maker needs to explain why it took so long to replace a broken switch as well as why the "fail safe" backup switch didn't work, he said. What's more, the BlackBerry maker will need to explain why North American users were also affected -- even though RIM maintains a different network operations center covering its customers in North America. "It shouldn't have happened," Jeronimo said. "What is needed to restore market confidence is a clear explanation of what happened and some kind of reassurance that it won't happen again." (continued...) 1  |  2  |  Next Page >   Tell Us What You Think Comment: Name: Also Visit: iPad Info Center Billions of Bytes Mobile Device Now Apple Info Center TopTechWire.com Panasonic Toughbook® mobile computers are engineered to withstand drops, spills, dust and grime, and to perform in the harshest environments. Rugged reliability, low cost of ownership and accolades from reviewers are just a few of the reasons why Toughbook computers keep winning over the world's toughest users. Click here to learn more.  Unified Communications 1.   Voice of the Customer Needs a Boss 2.   Nvidia GPU Boosts Citrix XenDesktop 3.   T-Mobile Gets Exclusive on Lumia 925 4.   BlackBerry BBM Goes Cross-Platform 5.   Salesforce Rolls Out B2C Communities Voice of the Customer Needs a Boss Need a manager, evangelist combined. Average Rating: Nvidia GPU Boosts Citrix XenDesktop Remote access to graphic-intense apps. Average Rating: HP Takes Contact Centers Virtual Teams with Avaya on CEaaS Offering. Average Rating:

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