Nandini Roy Choudhury, writer
Brief news
- Delta Air Lines is pursuing legal action against Microsoft and CrowdStrike for damages caused by a significant IT disruption that resulted in over 5,000 flight cancellations.
- Microsoft responded to Delta’s claims, stating that the airline declined their assistance and that Delta’s IT system was being serviced by other technology providers such as IBM and Amazon.
- Microsoft is still investigating why other airlines were able to recover more quickly from the IT disruption compared to Delta, and they believe Delta has not modernized its IT infrastructure.
Detailed news
On Tuesday, Microsoft responded to Delta Air Lines’ announcement that it would pursue damages from the software company and CrowdStrike in response to the thousands of flight cancellations that occurred as a result of a significant IT disruption.
In the days that followed the July 19 incident, which was precipitated by a bungled software update from CrowdStrike and impacted millions of computers running Microsoft Windows, Delta’s recovery from the disruption was more challenging than that of its competitors. Specifically, Delta canceled over 5,000 flights.
Last week, CEO Ed Bastian disclosed to CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the airline, which prioritizes punctuality and bills itself as a premium carrier, was compelled to pursue legal action against the two technology companies. Bastian estimated that the cost to the airline was approximately $500 million.
On Tuesday, Mark Cheffo, a counsel at Dechert who represents Microsoft, sent a letter to David Boies, an attorney at Boies Schiller Flexner. Boies, who represents Delta, had submitted letters to CrowdStrike and Microsoft on behalf of the airline.
“In a letter dated July 29, Boies informed Microsoft’s chief legal officer, Hossein Nowbar, that we have reason to believe that Microsoft has failed to comply with contractual requirements and has otherwise acted in a grossly negligent, indeed willful, manner in connection with the Faulty Update” from CrowdStrike that caused Windows computers to crash.
In his response, Cheffo expressed that Microsoft understands the impact of the CrowdStrike incident on Delta and its customers. But your letter and Delta’s public comments are incomplete, deceptive, deceitful, and detrimental to Microsoft and its reputation, he stated.
The response is comparable to CrowdStrike’s letter on Sunday, which rejected claims from the Atlanta-based airline. Cheffo stated that Microsoft extended an offer of assistance to Delta at no cost. In the letter, Microsoft employees expressed their willingness to assist Delta on a daily basis from July 19 to July 23, but Delta declined their assistance.
Bastian has never responded to an email sent by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, according to Cheffo. CrowdStrike also disclosed that its CEO, George Kurtz, had attempted to communicate with his Delta counterpart, but had not received a response.
On July 22, Cheffo detailed a letter from Microsoft to a Delta employee, in which the company offered assistance. The Delta employee responded, “Everything is satisfactory.” Cool. I will inform you and am grateful.
Delta executives stated that the disruption, which resulted in a greater number of cancellations than in all of 2019, overloaded its crew-scheduling platform, which assigns crews to flights. However, Cheffo stated that Delta does not depend on Microsoft’s Azure cloud services or Windows.
In 2021, IBM announced a multiyear agreement with Delta to assist in the implementation of a hybrid-cloud architecture that utilizes Red Hat’s OpenShift software. Delta selected Amazon Web Services, a division of the digital commerce company, as its preferred cloud provider in 2022.
It is becoming increasingly clear that Delta likely declined Microsoft’s assistance because the IT system it was experiencing the most difficulty restoring—its crew-tracking and scheduling system—was being serviced by other technology providers, such as IBM, due to its operation on their systems rather than Microsoft Windows or Azure. Cheffo wrote this in his letter.
According to Bastian, Delta was required to manually reconfigure 40,000 servers last week.
Cheffo wrote that Microsoft requires Delta to maintain records that demonstrate the extent to which technologies from IBM, Amazon, and other sources contributed to the airline’s problems from July 19 to July 24. IBM and Amazon’s spokespersons declined to respond immediately.
Cheffo stated that Microsoft is still investigating the reasons why American Airlines, United Airlines, and other airlines were able to recuperate more rapidly than their competitors.
Cheffo wrote, “Our preliminary review indicates that Delta, in contrast to its competitors, has not modernized its IT infrastructure, either for the benefit of its customers or for its pilots and flight attendants.”
Delta did not promptly respond to a request for comment.
Last week, Bastian stated to CNBC, “If you are to have priority access to the Delta ecosystem in terms of technology, you have to test this stuff.” It is impossible to enter a mission-critical 24/7 operation and inform us that we have a problem. It is inoperable.
Source : CNBC News
