Extreme Heat and Poor Air Conditioning Causes Internet Shutdown in Parts of Australia

The importance of having effective air conditioning was once again highlighted after scorching summer temperatures caused an internet blackout. The systems protecting the servers at one of Australia’s largest Internet Service Providers (ISP) in Perth, failed to cope with the sweltering 44 degrees Celsius temperatures.

This was claimed by reports to be one of the hottest January days on record and subsequently led to failures of both the main air conditioning, and the backup systems used to keep the servers cool. It was the users of the iiNet service that were hardest hit, with thousands of customers unable to use the internet for a period lasting nearly seven hours.

‘A Precautionary Measure’

A spokesperson of the company said it was them who had made the decision to cut the power however:

‘Due to record breaking temperatures in our Perth data centre earlier today, we shut down our servers as a precautionary measure.’

The chief technology officer of iiNet Mark Dioguardi, also offered his comments regarding the incident and claimed the shutdown was not as widespread as first reported: ‘Network redundancy plans ensured over 98% of our customers’ broadband services were unaffected’. He did concede however that ‘some customers experienced issues connecting to the internet’.

Angry Responses

Despite being disconnected from the web, iiNet was faced with a barrage of complaints and criticism on Twitter and Facebook from its customers. Many aired their dismay at iiNet’s lack of foresight when dealing with the hot weather. Mr Dioguardi did go on to apologise to those affected by the situation in his statement when he said:

‘We are conducting a full investigation into this event and putting systems in place to avoid this happening in the future. iiNet apologises to our customers for any inconvenience caused.’

Basic Mistakes

Following this incident, it is clear that iiNet need to consider is the basic mistakes they have made in not properly looking after their IT systems. Such important equipment needs to be in a temperature controlled environment that comes from reliable air conditioning units.

If you have any concerns this could be a problem for you, have a look through what we have on offer here at Pure Air Conditioning and invest in some units that will ensure your IT equipment is always protected.