Cisco denies culpability for RIM's embarrassing network outage

Cisco has revealed that its network hardware was in use by Research in Motion (RIM) during the huge network outage that blighted the firm last year but explained that the device's built-in resiliency performed as required.

The incident left RIM customers across the globe without key services but Cisco's chief technology, Padmasree Warrior, said the firm's technology did not appear to be the cause of the underlying failure.

"We did have a failure in the Catalyst 6500 but it recovered like it was supposed to do, the switch did the resiliency as it was supposed and we addressed all of [RIM's] concerns, and informed our customer base too," she said.

UK chief technology officer Ian Foddering confirmed this to V3 and added that RIM was still investigating the issue.

V3 contacted RIM for comment and clarification on these points but had received no reply at the time of publication.

The incident caused major issues for RIM and its customers and the firm was left embarrassed when several attempts at solving the problem failed to resolve it.

This compounded an already tough year for the firm as it saw its market share decline yet further in the face of huge competition from the iPhone and numerous Android devices.

This culminated in the departure of the firm's co-chief executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, with chief operating officer Thorsten Heins taking over in the role earlier this month.