The Ottawa data center housing Phoenix – the Canadian government's bungled payroll system for federal workers – was shut down on Wednesday after smoke was detected inside.
The Shared Services Canada server warehouse also housed computers handling government email, as well as some government websites, which were switched off, too. No fire was reported at the facility.
This embarrassing failure happened just before Canada's parliament was set to probe the botched rollout of the Phoenix pay system that has left tens of thousands of public servants unable to properly collect their wages. This has left employees unable to pay their bills.
Launched in February after a joint development project with IBM, the Phoenix system has been beset by a number of technical issues. By late July, the total number of backlogged payments had reached nearly 80,000.
The government of Canada is still working through claims of missing money filed by workers, but warns that the pay mess may not be sorted out in full until the end of October of this year.
Two separate IT security errors with Phoenix have already been reported. Hearings are to be held in Parliament in Ottawa this week.
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Monday August 01 2016, @04:15AM
No, the world just sucks that much horse cock. More specifically, people do.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti