Networking problems can bring even the largest organization to a halt

As anyone with a driver’s licence can tell you, going to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), even for the simplest of tasks, is a less than enjoyable experience. On Tuesday, customers at the California DMV were greeted with an unpleasant surprise as a statewide networking issue disrupted many in-office services for the morning.

With more businesses relying on interconnected computers and technology to get even the most basic processes completed, a networking hiccup can cause any company a number of problems. While the California DMV website was not affected and it was able to continue doing road tests and simpler processes on paper in their locations, customers looking to do anything computer-based were asked to turn around and come back another time, according to the Associated press. Because of the vast networks the DMV uses with its multiple offices, finding the exact issue took some time.

“We haven’t been able to isolate it,” said Adam Dondro, a spokesman for the California Technology Agency, before the issue was uncovered. “It’s somewhere between one of [the DMV] routers and either our technology router or a Verizon router. We’ve been kind of peeling the onion to try to figure out where it is and haven’t been able to nail it down yet.”

The networking problem, later discovered to be an issue with a state router, could have been disastrous for the California DMV – which services nearly 24 million drivers and 31.7 million vehicles – if it had been sustained.

Businesses in Ohio that are interested in shoring up their cabling and network solutions would be wise to partner with an IT consulting firm to ensure these systems are taken into account before deploying.

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