Partial emergency power failure at I-Web data centre during Zurich blackout

What happened

A local power cut in Zurich-West on 13 March 2013 disrupted services at the main data centre of I-Web, a Swiss provider of e-government services. The centre is housed with a hosting partner in the district. According to Netzwoche, which cited the Tagesanzeiger, the site's backup systems, which have several levels of redundancy, started after the blackout. Part of the emergency power supply then failed. Several municipalities, including the city of Lucerne, had no access to their data that evening.

I-Web said the data remained secure at all times. Its technicians travelled to the site but could not enter the building. The source does not state how long the disruption lasted or what caused the partial failure of the emergency power supply.

Contributing factors

External mains power loss in Zurich-West. Part of the emergency power supply failed after the backup systems had started. The source does not give the reason for the partial failure. Technicians could not gain access to the building once on site.

Lessons learned

1. Test the full emergency power chain, including every redundant branch, under load and after transfer from mains, not only whether generators start.
2. Confirm that a fault in one branch of the emergency supply cannot disable the whole backup path, and monitor each branch separately.
3. Agree in advance with hosting partners how technicians gain access to the building at night and during a power event, so that a failure can be attended to promptly.

More lessons on emergency response and public communication, detection and monitoring, from every incident on the register.

Source

netzwoche.ch