Last week, the state of Virginia experienced a massive failure at the states' information technology headquarters, managed by Northrop Grumman, in Chesterfield County. According to Input... you would not be at fault to assume Northrop Grumman's competitors will be out for blood after this debacle.

For those unaware of the incident's details, the Virginia Information Technology Agency (VITA) experienced an unprecedented hardware failure that impacted 26 state agencies shortly before 3 p.m. on Wednesday, August 25, 2010. VITA's service provider activated their rapid response teams in an attempt to restore services and reduce downtime. However, almost a week later, a handful of agencies are still experiencing significant challenges and are not fully operational.

Who's still affected?

• Department of Motor Vehicles, which was unable to issue drivers licenses and identity cards until today
• Department of Taxation, which is unable to process tax payments or refunds
• State Board of Elections, which is in the process of having voter files restored

The incident has prompted Gov. Bob McDonnell to seek an "independent third party" to investigate the fiasco. According to VITA, Northrop Grumman indicates the hardware failure is attributed to a networked storage unit part, EMC DMX3, sourced by EMC.

Consequences of this calamity remain to be seen. Reports attributed to Chief Information Officer Samuel A. Nixon indicate the possibility of financial penalties has yet to be determined. Virginia recently extended Northrop Grumman's contract for an additional $236 million; total contract value thus far is $2.3 billion.  

Interesting?