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Beware of new technology! (Read 8217 times)
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Beware of new technology!
Nov 25th, 2009, 8:48pm
 
BBC braced for return to 'pre-digital' age as technology fails
Major phone and computer problems could cause havoc to BBC's breakfast programmes

The BBC has been hit by a major technological breakdown affecting its phone and computer networks that could cause chaos for the corporation's news output and leave it marooned in a "pre-digital age".

Serious technical issues have caused problems across the corporation today. One BBC insider described the situation as "absolutely chaotic" and said there had been "major phone and computing problems over the past 72 hours or so".

The BBC's internal IT network is due to be "reset" tonight by Siemens Business Services. "Major reset tonight - if things aren't up and running by 6am it will cause havoc to all the breakfast programmes," the source added.

Emergency plans have been put in place with BBC News staff told to print out all scripts and handover notes, and take down colleagues' mobile phone numbers because of problems with internal phones.

In an email seen by MediaGuardian.co.uk, one BBC News editor told staff: "Don't assume you'll have a normal start to the day. Either the network is in a happy state, or you're walking into a pre-digital world.

"In a best-case scenario we will lose all outside connectivity - ie agency feeds, lines, internet access etc.

"In a worst-case scenario we will lose ENPS, Jupiter, VCS, email and CPS as well. The 4.30am deadline to get the network up and running again is an ambition rather than a guarantee."

The email said there would be "two Macs" in the BBC's Television Centre newsroom in west London that had webmail and internet access via wi-fi in case the computer system went down overnight. The newsroom will have printer cables "at the ready" allowing journalists to print running orders from "at least one PC" in each office.

A BBC spokesperson said: "We are currently experiencing serious IT problems at the BBC which is causing some disruption to our phone and computer systems. We are working with contractors to rectify this."


Source:-

The Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/25/bbc-news-pre-digital-age
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Beware of new technology!
Reply #1 - Nov 26th, 2009, 5:38pm
 
Few problems were noted.
However-

"Ariel" Week 48 reported:-

Staff in London and the English regions struggled to work effectively from Monday to Wednesday last week, after a bug in the computer network switching system.

At the worst point all of the English regions, and London, were affected to various degrees. The fault occurred just hours after Siemens mended a separate glitch, which had caused multiple, intermittent, failures of telephony in offices across England for a fortnight.

The network failure affected PCs and telephony. At times no phone calls could be made or received, PCs were offline, autocues weren’t working and the more IP reliant parts of the BBC in England were struggling. Arabic TV, the most advanced BBC news service in its use of technology, was forced to restructure its schedule; radio stations couldn’t run normal phone-ins; the TVC newsdesks couldn’t make or receive calls.

John Linwood, chief technology officer, FM&T, was one of the key managers at the eye of the storm. He says the cause of the failure has been identified, and the system is now stable and working properly.  But he is not complacent. He told Ariel: ‘We take this very seriously. It is our job to deliver systems to the BBC, and we need to make sure our network is resilient.’ And he paid tribute to the efforts of staff made to work round the problems: ‘The response from the staff across the BBC was amazing. They did everything they needed to do to keep the operation running and stepped up and put in the extra effort.’

FM&T had a team working through the night last Monday and Tuesday to identify and repair the fault. Now they are sitting down with Siemens, the service supplier, for a post mortem on the event.  Linwood, who joined the BBC in April, says there have already been major changes in relationships with suppliers: ‘They must deliver what they have been contracted to do and the BBC is not a soft touch. This is public money that we are spending, and we have to get full value."

Because the VOIP phone system has been troubled by faults for so long, it is the focus of much staff ire. Linwood acknowledges that: ‘We have had issues with the phone system since we switched to VOIP and it is unacceptable. We have a team working on this.’ He insists VOIP phones are essential to the hot-desking planned for W1, and that staff will see the benefits of  VOIP as more applications become available.

Looking ahead Linwood says the BBC’s corporate network needs to move to a new level of scale and resilience. ‘One of my goals is to get to the point where technology is an enabler, not a hindrance.’
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BBC Radio 3 tries out iNews
Reply #2 - Nov 27th, 2009, 8:48pm
 
BBC Radio 3 newsreader Alison Rooper had to revert to using her iPhone to read the news when the phone and computer systems at Television Centre went down.

Rooper, who was due to read her first bulletin at 7am, contacted her colleague Rachel Bulkeley and asked her to send the script through to her iPhone.

"The words were reasonably clear on my iPhone screen," she told The Telegraph newspaper. "But I tried tipping the phone sideways so that the writing becomes bigger and then I lost the whole sentence.

“You need to read ahead all the time when you are reading out news. I had to tip it back to the right position and just scroll through very quickly with my finger, hoping to God I didn't do something accidentally.”

Source:-

http://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.5412
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"Here is The News", by iPhone!
Reply #3 - Dec 1st, 2009, 11:07pm
 
Radio presenter reads news from iPhone after BBC system crashes
A BBC radio news presenter was forced to read the news from her iPhone after the corporation's computer and telephone system crashed as she was due on air.

Alison Rooper, an experienced BBC Radio 3 newsreader, managed to keep her cool during the glitch and told colleagues to send the script to her mobile.
She had arrived at Broadcasting House at 6.15am on Wednesday expecting to present the hourly bulletins as normal on Rob Cowan's breakfast show.
 

However, as she went to get a cup of coffee she met an engineer who "warned me that everything had gone and that Television Centre was in rather a state", she told the Independent
Across the BBC, particularly on the radio networks, panic was setting in as phones had stopped ringing and computers had gone down.
As the time approached 7am, when she was due to present the news, Rooper hit on the solution.
"I went into the studio at 6.45am and there was no script. I tried to call Television Centre but their telephone lines were down and they couldn't hear me," she said.
She managed to contact BBC News colleague Rachel Bulkeley on the summaries desk, who promised to send the scripts once more to another printer. But still nothing came through.
"She said, 'the only way I can think to get the script to you is by email,' but I said, 'no, you can't because our computers are down, we have no email and no computers,'" said Rooper, who suggested that the material be sent to her phone instead. "Rachel said, 'you can't possibly read a script off an iPhone,' but I told her, 'it's either that or we have no news, so let's try it.'"
Rooper, who has 20 years news reading experience, remained calm and read the headlines from the small screen of her iPhone instead of the usual printed sheet of paper.
"The words were reasonably clear on my iPhone screen," she said. "But I tried tipping the phone sideways so that the writing becomes bigger and then I lost the whole sentence. You need to read ahead all the time when you are reading out news. I had to tip it back to the right position and just scroll through very quickly with my finger, hoping to God I didn't do something accidentally.
"My heart was in my mouth but you have to take a deep breath and plunge in."

Source:-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/6667615/Radio-presenter-reads-news-f...

Also in The Independent:-

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/lost-the-news-theres-an-app-for...
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