IBM's Warwick, UK, data centre was hit by a power outage on Thursday, causing customers' mission-critical systems to be down for several hours, according to a source.

Many customers use this IBM data centre to host their applications, including Edwards Ltd., a global manufacturer of vacuum pump technologies for precision engineering.

IBM states that its Warwick recovery centre is backed by full uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and generators.

According to a source, the power failure occurred at 2.20pm on April 30th and was, unfortunately, followed by a generator failure. This lengthened the outage period, which was then extended by the need to start systems in a regulated sequence. It meant customers with mission-critical systems hosted at the data centre could not use those systems for several hours.

Our source said a Mastercard processor was hit. Its services were back by 19.30, five hours later, but then it was not really prepared for a power outage of this nature.

An IBM spokesperson said: "There was a short interruption to the power supply yesterday, which was quickly resolved. We are working closely with clients to resolve any outstanding issues." ®

Related stories

• IBM buys Greek word for 'tracker ' (5 May 2009)
• IBM unloads Nehalem towers, clusters (30 April 2009)
• IBM doubles Power Rewards to chase Sun gear (29 April 2009)
• IBM's dynamic infrastructure taking shape (29 April 2009)
• IBM juices dividend (yet again) (28 April 2009)
• Texas fines IBM for 'crucial back-ups' failure (3 November 2008)
• Union takes IBM outsourcing case to employment tribunal (8 August 2008)
• Outsourcing overruns cost UK taxpayers £9bn (27 December 2007)
• Exclusive IBM UK mainframe workers train their South African replacements (1 July 2005)