***Update: December 2, 2009 - 7:55pm***
The Amadeus Technical Center is now reporting that the routing issue between Canadian ISPs and the Amadeus data center has been resolved. All Amadeus customers should now be able to log into Amadeus as normal, and load/edit any PNRs.

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Amadeus is reporting a routing issue this morning between their US operations and certain Canadian Internet Service Providers.

Ths issue is causing problems for some Canadian travel agencies. Agents are reporting problems logging into their GDS and opening/editing PNRs. Some agents are reporting receiving the following error: “Connector: Timeout waiting for a response. 1112″.

Amadeus believes the problem is with an Internet peering point and is working as quickly as possible to resolve the issue.

A peering point is where Internet Service Providers interconnect together to exchange traffic on a peering basis. Without a peering point, traffic on the Internet would never leave your Internet Service Provider’s local network.

We have been running Windows 7 for several months. As a Microsoft partner, we received our copies of the operating system ahead of the public. There are a few things that I have found that I really appreciate about the operating system:

1) Bottom right hand corner includes time and date. I never know what the date is, and always found myself “mousing over” the clock to find out what the date was… now I don’t have to, the date is always in the bottom right hand corner of my screen

2) Connect to VPN in 3 clicks. Network access sits in the tray beside the clock. One click opens a network panel, 2nd click on the VPN connection, 3rd click to connect. I don’t save my password, so still have to enter that, but this process is much more streamlined

3) General network connectivity. My notebook barely knew about my home network. I needed to print. I asked it to print from a shared printer on my home network. Windows 7 paused, reflected, downloaded and installed a driver, and then let me print. It was refreshingly easy.

4) Last night, one of my computers updated automatically (it is a test machine, not managed, automatic updates). When I logged into it today, it told me it had been updated, and then reopened all the programs and documents that were open before it decided to update itself. That was refreshing.

These are just 4 things I thought of while working late tonight. I thought I would tell you about them. Customers have been asking about Windows 7, asking if it is _that_ better than Vista… and while I never really had an issue with Vista, I have to say yes, it is better. It is a very nice operating system.

**Update 3:21pm**
Amadeus support is reporting that the Amadeus Tours system is back online. Customers have been able to log back into the system in our testing.

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After dealing with the Sabre reservation system being down system wide this morning, Amadeus Tours went offline at about 1:00pm EST. None of our travel customers are able to log into Amadeus Tours. They are receiving a permissions error.

We have spoken with Amadeus and they have no ETA on resolution.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has ruled and will allow Bell Canada, Rogers and other Internet Service Providers to put a speed limit on customer’s Internet connections when they need to.

The ruling has been feared by those in favor of net neutrality, who want all Internet traffic treated equally. However, this ruling puts Internet connections on the same footing as hydro and long distance services, where time of day and type of usage can impact prioritization or cost (think peaksaver programs and after 6pm calling). Prioritizing Internet service in a similar, controlled method may just make downloading episodes of Lost less important than a remote connection to a work computer so you can get your job done. If this ends up being the case, we would applaud the decision.

The CRTC ruling says that throttling can only occur if certain conditions are met, and customers must be notified in advance. Currently we are seeing throttling moved around from location to location with a very wide impact. In particular, we often see all encrypted traffic getting throttled. When we setup a customer to work from home, their connection to their office server is always encrypted, and therefore bandwidth throttling negatively impacts their connection, and the employee’s ability to work. 

The mobile worker trend is continuing to grow. Through mergers, aquisitions and organic growth, we are seeing customers adding employees to their companies without expanding their workspace. We are hoping the CRTC ruling will cause ISP’s to advance the technologies they are using to throttle traffic, and not restrict the relatively low bandwidth remote worker technologies. Time will tell.

The Washington Post is reporting that a global phishing operation has been busted up. Running since 2007, the operation was responsible for draining about $1.5 million from the unsuspecting public who were tricked into providing their Wells Fargo and Bank of America account logins after receiving a phony email.

If you have been on the Internet for any length of time, surely you have seen similar emails asking you to click and provide your bank details. While this particular ring has been dismantled, nearly 50,000 new phishing websites were setup globally in just the month of June, according to the article.

Banks typically do not email their customers, and each bank has information on their website with regards to their specific policy. Some examples are below:

• TD Canada Trust
• Scotiabank
• Bank Of Montreal
• CIBC
• RBC

The moral of the story is as always; don’t trust that unsolicited emails are legitimate, always go directly to your bank’s website to login (not via a link in an email) and use antiphishing and antispam software to protect your identity.