Docklands power outage hits global IT operations

BP and a number of other global businesses were hit by a power outage at a London Docklands data centre last week which took down parts of their IT operations.

UK data centre company Global Switch suffered the power problems last Thursday at its Docklands operations, which cover almost one million square feet. The problems were resolved late on Thursday afternoon.

Energy giant BP was one of the companies affected when the outage took down connectivity across its European, Asian and African operations for most of the working day, leaving staff unable to access the internet or send email.

A spokesman for BP told silicon.com: "It had an impact on our networks and trading activity and it was restored in phases throughout the day."

GlobalSwitch refused to name the other customers which were affected by the power cut.

A GlobalSwitch spokeswoman told silicon.com: "We did have an outage on Thursday in the small hours of the morning. It did affect a small number of our clients."

The GlobalSwitch website boasts to prospective customers: "We look after the facilities and ensure the constant availability of critical services - you retain control of your IT operations."

Despite that fact, the company is refusing to say how the power failure happened, why back-up systems failed and whether customers will be compensated.