Storm Damage at Data Center Causes Issues with Information Transmission
AUSTIN –The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is notifying drivers that they may experience a delay in obtaining an emissions inspection for vehicles registered in emissions counties due to intermittent connectivity issues.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has notified DPS that the company it contracts with to operate the Texas Information Management System (TIMS), which facilitates the vehicle inspection testing system, had its corporate office damaged by severe weather this week. That office houses one of the data centers, and it is inaccessible. The company is implementing its disaster recovery plan, and the network is operating on secondary backup servers. However, at this time, some inspection stations may experience an outage or intermittent connectivity issues that may impact drivers trying to obtain a vehicle inspection—this may cause delays.
DPS is working with our partners at TCEQ and vehicle inspection station owners on this matter. There is no timeline on when the data center will be accessible. Please monitor DPS’ social media channels for updates as they become available.
For more information on emissions inspections and a full list of emissions counties, visit the DPS website.
