RIM in disarray after admission that BlackBerry network fix has failed

Research in Motion (RIM) has confirmed that an attempt to fix the problems that have blighted customer access to web, email and messaging services has failed to work and that the firm is still unsure which BIS and BES services are being affected by the issue.

The firm's vice president of software and services, Rory O'Neill, told V3 at a BlackBerry Innovation Forum event in London that the firm thought it had identified and fixed the problem when it replaced a core switch in its network on Tuesday but he admitted that this has not worked.

"We fixed the component parts and reloaded the BlackBerry service overnight and unfortunately when the service came back on this morning the component parts didn't respond in the way in which we'd hoped," he said.

"The core issue is the way in which our datacentres talk to each other in our network backbone and we have tried several remedies to fix this core switch technology and that's the piece we are still working through."

O'Neill also said that the firm was unable to categorically say which services were being affected at present due to the complexity of the firm's network and the level of the problem.

It was originally thought only BIS customers were affected, although members of the V3 team with BlackBerry devices running BES have been having trouble accessing emails since Tuesday.

"One of the challenges we have in investigating the issues is that there are varying levels of service users are experiencing. Some users are getting services delayed, some having services impaired, some not having service available to use at all," he said.