BlackBerry outage due to core switch failure

The disruption in BlackBerry mobile services in Indiaand several other countries since Monday was caused by a core switch failure,makers of the device Research in Motion (RIM) said on Wednesday.

"The messaging and browsing delays being experienced byBlackBerry users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India,Brazil, Chile and Argentina were caused by a coreswitch failure within RIM's infrastructure," the Canada-based firm said ina statement.

BlackBerry users have been hit by service disruptions totheir smartphones since Monday after a glitch cut off Internet and messagingservices for a large numbers of users around the world.

"Although the system is designed to failover to aback-up switch, the failover did not function as previously tested. As aresult, a large backlog of data was generated and we are now working to clearthat backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible," RIM said.

Stating that it is working to restore normal service asquickly as possible, the company apologised for the inconvenience to itscustomers.

RIM, which makes the smartphone, announced on Monday that ithad fixed the problem after users across the globe reported not being able toreceive or send email, use instant messaging or browse the Internet, though theproblems did not appear to be the same for each user, or affect all users.

The problem reappeared on Tuesday.