State workers wrestling with balky computers

Today roughly 900 employees in government offices, including Corrections in Springfield, are locked out of workplace Internet and in some cases email.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110803/NEWS03/110803030/Hundreds-of-Vermont-state-workers-wrestling-with-balky-computers?odyssey=tab%7Cmostpopular%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

State officials are scrambling to fix computer problems affecting about 10 percent of state workers today.

Written by
Molly Walsh, Burlington Free Press Staff Writer

Roughly 900 employees in government offices including the Health Department in Burlington and Williston and Corrections in Springfield are locked out of workplace Internet and in some cases email. Consumers also may be blocked from accessing some state websites.

Darwin Thompson, deputy commissioner of the Vermont Department of Information and Innovation, urged members of the public to do business with state government by telephone if they encounter problems online. It’s unclear if the computer problems are being caused by an internal hardware failure or by a problem with circuit vendors FairPoint Communications and Level 3 Communications, Thompson said. “We’re just all trouble shooting it together.” He said his office was first alerted to the problems about 9 a.m. today.

Areas of state government also affected by the computer trouble include the Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration (BISHCA) in Montpelier and the Vermont Center for Geographic Information in Waterbury.

Thompson said state employees were working in spite of the Internet roadblock. “I think the standard state employee has got way too much work to do. I’m pretty sure a lot of folks will have something else queued up where they don’t need access to the Internet.”