Commercial Fixed Wing
Dispatch Dispatcher
Other Dispatcher comm equipment
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Equipment / Tooling
The ACARS functionality to alert all sector flights of an important message at the same time failed. Due to the [dispatch computer] outage we needed to quickly alert all airborne flights of the inability to receive ACARS messages and to contact Dispatch via Commercial Radio if needed. When I and others tried this; it sent the messages to other flights that weren't in our sectors and only to some flights in our sectors. Whilst this functionality is not an FAR requirement; it's indicative of a wider system failure of vital communication with company aircraft. Again; part of an increasing risk factor that could contribute to an incident.
Dispatcher reports difficulty with the communication capabilities of his dispatch computer system which he believes is symptomatic of wider problems with the system.