- An IBM software upgrade caused a system failure at Deutsche
Bank that left it unable to clear international interbank payments on 1
December.
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- A bank representative said that the failure was caused
by a software error. About DM500bn (£167m) of transactions were delayed
after the bank upgraded its IBM IMS Transaction Manager software.
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- He said, "We were advised by IBM to update the system.
We tested it throughout November and ran the system live for eight days
before it crashed on 1 December.
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- "A software fix was delivered by IBM and implemented
overnight," he added. The failure occurred at a period of maximum
system load.
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- A source with knowledge of the system said it was caused
by an error in the OS390 operating system, which then affected the IMS
database system and said the upgrade "must have been year 2000-related,
otherwise the bank would not have broken its Y2K freeze".
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- Barry Graham, an analyst at Xephon, said IMS had failed
before, and appeared to be peculiarly vulnerable to failure. "It has
a limited user base, so problems are not found as quickly as in other databases
like DB2.
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- Deutsche Bank said the problem was not Y2K-related. IBM
refused to comment.
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