Some UK BlackBerry users hit with service outage

A number of BlackBerry users over in the United Kingdom apparently experienced an outage on their BlackBerry smartphones yesterday. Some readers who saw the original The Register report chimed in with feedback; some companies saw half their users affected while others experienced no issues.

At this point, it is still unknown if the issue is due to network problems with specific mobile providers, or if it is related to the RIM NOC serving the region. What was clear, is that users did not care about the root of the problem--they just want their BlackBerry service and emails working again.

Indeed, with the increasing convergence of mobile and computer networks, the difference between them is of less consequence to most users. In fact, one reader wrote about how his colleagues simply switched over to Wi-Fi and continued to use their devices as usual.

Unlike Microsoft's ActiveSync, RIM's BlackBerry service also depends on the health of its servers at its NOC, where sporadic downtime in the past has triggered much public bashing. In a way, it can be said that the NOC is but another incarnation of cloud-based services, something that has grown more popular in recent months.

Yet, is it good that so much of the services we use are now running in the cloud? I have some thoughts on the matter, so be sure to check out today's commentary, "Cloud computing: Boon or bane?"

For more on this story:
- check out this article at The Register

Related Articles:
Yikes! BlackBerry email has three-hour outage
RIM talks about BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0
BlackBerry goes down...again
BlackBerry outage explained
RIM failure won't repeat