Bit by Bit - Technology Solutions

Here is the latest in the RIM saga which was obtained from the following website:

http://www.rim.com/newsroom/service-update.shtml

Check this website for the most up to date information that RIM has regarding this issue.

To All BlackBerry Customers:

I want to first apologize for the service interruptions and delays many of you have been experiencing this week. I also wanted to connect with you directly, give you an update on the service issues we are trying to solve, and answer some of the questions and concerns you’ve expressed.

You’ve depended on us for reliable, real-time communications, and right now we’re letting you down. We are taking this very seriously and have people around the world working around the clock to address this situation. We believe we understand why this happened and we are working to restore normal service levels in all markets as quickly as we can.

Here is the current status of service and issues for the various regions that were impacted:

For Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA):

• Email systems are operating and we are continuing to clear any backlogged messages. Support teams are working to minimize the impact on our customers.
• BBM traffic is online and traffic is passing successfully
• Browsing is temporarily unavailable as the Support teams monitor service stability and continue to assess when this service can be safely brought online
• Support teams have added capacity to help with message delivery between regions and continents

For Canada and Latin America:

• Email systems are operating and we are continuing to clear any backlogged messages. Support teams are working to minimize the impact on our customers
• BBM and browsing services are online and traffic is passing successfully (except for three carrier networks in Latin America that are serviced by the EMEIA infrastructure – browsing is temporarily unavailable for those three carrier networks)
• Support teams are investigating reports of BBM delays

For the U.S.:

• Email systems are operating and we are continuing to clear any backlogged messages. Support teams are working to minimize the impact on our customers.
• Support teams have added capacity to help with message delivery between regions and continents
• BBM and browsing services are online and traffic is passing successfully
• Support teams are investigating reports of BBM delays

We will provide regular updates on BlackBerry.com, RIM.com and via our social channels. We are doing everything in our power to restore regular service everywhere and to restore your trust in us.

Yours sincerely,

Robin Bienfait
Chief Information Officer, RIM

The new trend of backups is to move away from using the traditional Tape drive.  Here are a few pros and cons for using the tape drive for backups:

PRO

1. Tapes are compact and are easily portable.  They can be taken offsite without a high risk of damaging them.
2. Inexpensive to maintain.  Once the jobs are set, it is just as simple as rotating out the tapes.
3. Tapes hold up to DR senerios better.  For example, if there is a power outage, there is little risk that a tape would be affected the same way as other backup methods.

CON

1. Time.  Slow to recover from backup.  It takes time to extract data from tape.
2. Capacity.  You are limited to the size of the tape, and the size of the tape drive.  With the cost of data decreasing, you also need to keep up with the capacity of the tapes. 
3. Tape life cycle.  The average tape typically lasts only a few years.

A common question is, how does one create a ticket in Bit by Bit's ticketing system?

Its a good question, and there are a few ways that it happens.

1. Send an email to support@bitxbit.com.  This will automatically generate a ticket into our system.

2. Call the helpdesk as 212-691-8081 x299.  A helpdesk engineer will create a ticket of the problem or issue that you have.  At this point, they will either help resolve your issue, or work on getting an escalated engineer to help troubleshoot the problem.

3. Login to the ticketing system yourself at http://support.bitxbit.com and generate a ticket yourself.  If you are unsure of your password, input your email address and hit forgot password.  This send an email to your populated email address for a temporary password.  If you have never contacted support before, I would suggest using options 1 or 2 first.  This will put your email address into our ticketing system.

Questions?  Always feel free to send an email to support@bitxbit.com and someone would be happy to work with you!