As reported by AFP, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia experienced a service disruption on Monday, August 6, after a fiber-optic cable connection between two of its U.S. data centers was severed, causing a widespread site outage. A cable linking data centers in the states of Virginia and Florida was severed at about 1300 GMT, stated the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia.org and other websites. Sites and mobile service were restored after about an hour, said the statement.
Wikimedia reportedly has two separate fiber-optic lines connecting the data centers, with one connection designated for redundant back-up in event of a problem. The data center in Virginia deals with the most Wikipedia traffic, but depends upon the Florida facility to access stored information, said Wikimedia. A Wikimedia blog post added, "We are now working with our network provider to determine how and why we were impacted by that fiber cut when we are supposed to have redundancy in our network. We are still waiting for their full report."