BlackBerry core switch failure stymies global service

Users may face a third day of faulty services

BlackBerry users may face another day of service disruption, even though BlackBerry maker RIM now knows the cause of the problem.

The company issued a statement on Twitter yesterday evening, stating that delays with messaging and browsing services were "caused by a core switch failure within RIM's infrastructure".

The problems, which initially affected users in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, have now spread to India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina.

The statement continued: "Although the system is designed to failover to a back-up switch, the failover did not function as previously tested. As a result, a large backlog of data was generated and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible."

"We apologise for any inconvenience and will continue to keep you informed," it concluded.

RIM has issued no update to this initial statement.