Pickaxe chops cable, KOs UKFast data centre

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work we go

Manchester workmen were blamed for knocking out hosting business UKFast's data centre today, after it seems some hapless bod cut a cable with a pickaxe.

According to the Brit firm's status page, the problem arose this morning at 11am, affecting its MANOC 5 data centre. The incoming mains supply was lost to the site and generators failed to take over the service.

Lawrence Jones, UKFast CEO, told El Reg he believed some workmen in Trafford Park went through a cable with a pickaxe, which meant one of his data centres lost power.

He was awaiting a report on the incident and was assessing full impact to the infrastructure but said a backup generator had restored power.

"We have a team of engineers on site and they are on hand to ensure any problems are fixed. We have 40,000 servers across five data centres. When a server loses power, even for a split second, it can damage the hard drive. If necessary, we'll be working through the night to ensure that if any data is lost, it will be restored.

"I appreciate this is frustrating, nobody wants to be offline, and this is why I have engineers trying to ensure customers are looked after."

The latest update from the firm said engineers have identified some residual connectivity issues to a small subset of solutions and are working to resolve this.

UKFast was recently criticised for its sponsorship of the Digital Entrepreneur Awards, which used a group of scantily clad women doing a showgirl routine to round off the event.

Some folk felt the decision was at best naff, and at worst reminiscent of the sexist image the sector is trying to shake off. ®