Aussie film archives launch ... and then crash

The launch of Australian Screen today was met with an unfortunate fate: by 10am the site had crashed.

The new site, which serves excerpts of Australian film and television archives crashed once users -- primarily teachers and students -- began accessing the new service this morning.

Thomas Ashelford, Australian Screen's technical director told ZDNet Australia that its Linux servers "went into meltdown".

"We're organising additional hardware now," he said.

Ashelford could not say at the time of the interview how many requests the site received for it to cause its servers to meltdown.

The team spent two and half years on the project, primarily developing its custom-built content management system which is developed on a Jenga Web Applications framework, said Ashelford.

The AU$2.4 million project is a shared initiative between the federal government and the Australian Film Commission.

When the site is restored it can be accessed at: http://australianscreen.com.au.