Government web sites crashed on the very day it launched the Island’s first TechWeek to improve Bermuda’s understanding of the many ways residents can apply Information Technology to improve their lives.

The IT failure included a special web site that was meant to provide information about what is happening during TechWeek. It remained off-line throughout yesterday.

Visitors who tried to check out www.techtime.bm were greeted with a blank screen featuring a single line message stating: “The server has experienced an error on start up.”

It was the same message and blank screen at the Bermuda Government’s main web site portal www.gov.bm. Anyone hoping to book an online appointment at the Transport Control Department was similarly out of luck. Minister for the Environment, Telecommunications and E-Commerce Neletha Butterfield had earlier in the morning tooted Bermuda’s horn in achieving 15th place in the global e-readiness rankings of The Economist as she opened TechWeek and an IT show at the Hamilton Fairmont Princess Hotel.

But even as she promoted the initiative, Government’s various “gov.bm” web sites were unusable.

At midday, a Government spokesman said the cause of the problem was not known, but that the web sites should be “back up soon.”

However, by the end of the day, there was still nothing but blank screens on Government web pages. By then the problem had been traced to a database failure.

Government’s technology failure was not the only hiccup of the day. A graduation reception for students who had completed the International Computer Driver’s Licence course was scheduled to take place at 11 a.m. in a room adjoining the Tech Show. Deputy Premier Paula Cox and Minister Butterfield were both in attendance on time but were left waiting around.

Twenty minutes after the scheduled event had been due to begin The Royal Gazette decided it was time to leave. The reason for the delay turned out to be parking difficulties for recipients due to construction work in the hotel car park.

For more coverage, see Business