IP: The decline (and maybe fall) of electronic systems

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Over the past few months I have had several interesting encounters with 
computer systems in ecommerce.

The first is a recurring problem First Card has with their credit card 
systems. Twice in the past few months their credit authorization systems 
have failed and they have fallen into the mode of declining authorizations. 
I was at a gas station using my United First Card when it first did that 
and there were numerous  customers searching for alternative cards. During 
one of these outages an online system I use tried to do a monthly 
re-authorization (for a small amount) and was declined. Real pain in the 
neck. I suspect First Card needs a new PR firm and a new CIO.

The  today I called to iron out a mis-charge and was told their system was 
undergoing updating and to call back in three hours. This was at 0930 est 
so I suspect they crashed yet again.

Who needs to wait for Jan 1

Just to be fair , I called ATT earlier in the week and was told their 
system also was undergoing UPDATING and to call back tomorrow.

What is going on with these systems?

Have we forgotten how to design (or did we ever know) reliable fault 
tolerant systems outside the  telephone industry

Dave

PS for those who may make a nasty, my credit card account was fully 
functional and current


_____________________________________________________________________
David Farber
The Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunication Systems
University of Pennsylvania
Home Page: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~farber
Email: farber () cis upenn edu

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