Data Center Power Loss Hits NJ Government Sites

Web sites for state agencies in New Jersey were knocked offline Thursday afternoon by a power loss at a data center, disrupting access to state services and causes motor vehicles offices statewide to close early, according to multiple media reports.

The outage caused “disruptions across many state departments and agencies frequently used by the public,” according to the state Treasury Department, which manages information technology. “The source of the outage has been identified and is now being addressed by the staff and contractors of the State Office of Information Technology, who will work continuously until the problems are addressed,” the Treasury statement added.

The outage began at about 2 p.m., and state web sites returned to service by about 8 p.m. and appear to be operating fine this morning. The web sites are hosted in facilities operated by the NJ Office of Information Technology near Trenton, N.J.