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Information Select Committee

Answer

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, on how many occasions since 31 August 2001 the PDVN server has been out of action; what defects he has identified; and what action is being taken to rectify such defects. [31113] Michael Fabricant: I have been asked to reply. The Parliamentary Data and Video Network (PDVN) consists of interconnected systems hosted on a large number of servers. Since 31 August 2001, the Parliamentary Data and Video Network (PDVN) has suffered three major failures affecting the whole of the network. These occurred on 3 October 2001, 20 November 2001 and 21 November 2001. The PDVN had previously remained stable for 19 months. Subsequent investigation into these failures, which were related, identified saturation and overload of Central Processing Units as an immediate cause. Action was taken to rectify this and other faults. The Parliamentary Communications Directorate (PCD) has since asked the firm responsible for maintaining the PDVN to provide quicker on-site assistance in the event of a major failure. PCD staff have also been trained to respond more swiftly. There have been other smaller-scale interruptions to individual services offered on the PDVN since 31 August. Some of these have occurred because of routine maintenance at weekends. If the hon. Gentleman has concerns about a specific service failure, he may like to raise them with the Director of Communications, Mr. Matthew Taylor.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

31113; 379 c344-5W;379 c340-1W

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Computer networks ICT House of Commons Parliamentary data and video network

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk