Is the Customer Always Right? Not at Internap

Data center providers are usually loathe to get in public disputes with customers, as it has a way of converting  them into former customers. There's been a doozy of a public spat this week involving dueling finger-pointing between Internap Network Services (INAP) and Ooma Inc. At issue is a network outage on Monday that disrupted service for Ooma's VoIP customers and prompted an unflattering writeup on TechCrunch,

Ooma chief marketing officer Rich Buchanan used his Twitter feed to blame Internap for the problems."Ooma issues were linked to an outage at Internap, Buchanan wrote. "It also affected RIM, Google, Yahoo, Blue Cross, TM, Verizon, and others."

When media reports began citing Internap, company spokeswoman Debra Forrester denied that Internap had any downtime, telling Betanews and the Business Times that the problems must be on Ooma's network.

Ooma's Buchanan shot back: “We have the network logs to show that their service was not performing to specification, and that subsequently caused our network outage," he told the Business Times. "It’s unfortunate that a network provider with the reputation that Internap has would stoop to such levels to avoid responsibility.”

Before long, Internap was calling back those same media outlets to backpedal, saying the outage was still under investigation. "“We will either find out it was indeed our problem, or they will find out it was them,” Forrester said.

"Internap retracts false statement about ooma service outage," Buchanan Tweeted shortly afterward. "Cheap shot Internap."

For what it's worth, there are multiple reports that Ooma experienced more downtime this morning.