Complete power failure in a Melbourne data centre has affected numerous ISPs such as iiNet, Internode, Netspace and Westnet.

The issues, which begun at around 2PM, were caused by a failure of mains and backup power at Primus' 55 King Street data centre in the Melbourne CBD.

Impact to customers included outages of broadband connections, VoIP services and corporate networks in Melbourne and Tasmania.

Bevan Slattery from affected telco PIPE Networks initially described the issue as "a loss of mains power, combined with a failure of backup diesel generation, and therefore the depletion of the UPS batteries."

Reports suggest power has gradually been restored to some services starting at around 4PM. But with no explanation to why the catastrophic failure occurred, PIPE says it is exploring further options to ensure continued supply.

Links:

• PIPE networks forum posts  (Whirlpool Forums)