Wikipedia back online after brief service cut

Popular online knowledge trove Wikipedia was back online Monday after a fiber optic cable connection between its two US data centers was severed, causing an hour-long service outage.

A cable line linking data centers in the states of Virginia and Florida was severed about 1300 GMT, according to the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia.org and other websites.

Wikipedia's websites were restored after an hour and the mobile service was back online by about 1535 GMT, Wikimedia said.

"We are now working with our network provider to determine how and why we were impacted by that fiber cut when we are supposed to have redundancy in our network," Wikimedia said in a blog post.

"We are still waiting for their full report."

Wikimedia has two separate fiber optic lines connecting the data centers, with one connection intended to act as a backup for the other in event of a problem.

The data center in Virginia handles most Wikipedia traffic but accesses the center in Florida to fetch stored information in the crowd-sourced online encyclopedia, according to Wikimedia.

Loading...
  • PUB video teaches Singaporeans how to shower 18 hours ago

    It's been busy at work, it's been busy at school, your body is sticky and needs water to cool, a five-minute shower is all you need, so let's all dance to a shower beat... YEAH! And so goes the More »

  • Best and worst sugar substitutes Fri, May 17, 2013

    Sugar has earned a bad reputation for being bad for your heart, your brain and your waistline. Because of this, there have been many attempts to market sugar substitutes. Some are useful, but some More »

  • Why go through a preventive double mastectomy? Fri, May 17, 2013

    Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie announced she has had both her breasts removed in February to reduce her high genetic risk of breast cancer. The surgery, called double mastectomy, brought down her More »