IBM workers haven’t had access their emails for days after failed 18-month migration to new cloud server as employees say it has become ‘a dark, chaotic pit’
- IBM employees have reportedly been unable to use email or schedule events on calendars for several days
- Many of employees – both current and former – blame the issue on a migration issues after IBM sold software to HCL Technologies in 2018
- IBM reportedly did not want its data on the Indian company’s servers, but rather its own
IBM employees are suffering from an inability to use their email or schedule events on their calendars for several days, according to a news report.
According to The Register, many of the company’s employees – both current and former – blame the issue on a migration issues after IBM sold some of its software, including Notes, to HCL Technologies in 2018.
IBM reportedly did not want its data on the Indian company’s servers, but rather its own servers, which resulted in the issue.
‘We sold Notes to HCL a few years back,’ a source told the news outlet. ‘The problem is we are late getting off the version that becomes unsupported tomorrow.’
Another source told The Register that the issue reflects poorly on the company, as much of IBM’s business comes via its cloud services.
‘If we can’t even handle our own cloud migration program then why would any customer trust us?’
During the first quarter, IBM generated $5.4 billion in cloud and cognitive-related software, up just 0.8 percent when adjusting for currency. Those results include its 2019 $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat.
Cloud and cloud-related revenue made up nearly a third of IBM’s $17.73 billion total revenue in the first quarter, a figure that rose less than one percent year over year.
Software programs such as Slack are working via Microsoft Outlook, which reportedly does not work with the new system.
IBM’s webmail, Verse and Notes have both become ‘unreliable.’
‘Outlook won’t work with the new system, IBM Notes won’t work and the online email called Verse has now gone down,’ another source told The Register.
‘Everyone has been affected and no fix is in sight.’
‘Every IBMer has descended into a dark, chaotic pit of not being able to access email or calendars for the past 3 days…. wondering where we are??’ one IBM designer wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
Thousands of IBMers have had issues with iNotes on desktop devices and Verse has been experiencing issues on the web and on mobile devices.
Initially, the company reportedly tried to solve the issue via a help desk chat, but that became so large, employees gave up.
Despite a number of layoffs in recent years, Armonk, NY-based IBM still has roughly 350,000 employees, according to publicly available data.
DailyMail.com has reached out to IBM with a request for comment.