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For real-time updates on the ongoing outage, see the "E-mail" section of MIT's 3down page, or this page about the incident.

Below is the email sent around 4pm on July 23rd about the outage.

From: Christine Fitzgerald <cavanna@MIT.EDU>
To: "is&t@mit.edu" <is&t@mit.edu>,
        "itpartners@mit.edu" <itpartners@mit.edu>,
        "it-lead@mit.edu" <it-lead@mit.edu>,
        "infogroup@mit.edu" <infogroup@mit.edu>
Subject: EMAIL OUTAGE:  Issue with Incoming Email
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:53:50 -0400
CC: "tmstone@mit.edu" <tmstone@mit.edu>,
        "sharonp@mit.edu" <sharonp@mit.edu>

At approximately 6:00 am today, we experienced issues with the
delivery of incoming mail on five of our IMAP post office servers
(po9, po10, po11, po12, and po14).  This affects users whose email is
running on the traditional IMAP email servers and does not impact
those who are running email using Microsoft Exchange.

The root cause of the problem was identified as damaged controller
cards on the SAN (which is our email storage system).  These cards
were replaced this morning and we have been able to restore three
(po9, po12, po14) of the five post office servers.

The Network team continues to trouble shoot the remaining problems
with the post office servers (po10 and po11) and is working closely
with our vendor, SUN and their engineering experts for issues related
to the SAN storage device.  Simultaneously, we are working to help
users effected by the outage get their incoming mail by bring up a
separate storage device. All inbound mail is being queued and will be
delivered once the servers are restored.

We realize that this outage has affected a number of users on campus
and we have been working throughout the day to restore this service
for you. Restoration is a complex process and is being closely
monitored every step of the way. Updates have been posted to the
3-DOWN website on a regular basis throughout the day and a message has
been posted to the Service Desk call center line to notify users of
the situation.

We understand how important email is to all of you and we apologize
for the inconvenience this has caused.

Please direct any questions you may have to the Service Help Desk at
computing-help@mit.edu or 617.253.1101.

Best,
Christine
_______________________________________________________________________________
NOTE:  IS&T will *NEVER* request passwords or other personal information via email.
Messages requesting such information are fraudulent.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Christine C. Fitzgerald
Manager of Strategic Communications

Informations Services and Technology (IS&T)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room N42-240N
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307

cavanna@mit.edu
617.253.9814