There's confusion over the future of Hampshire-based ISP, Cloud Nine, after it emerged that it had struck a deal to be acquired by Surrey-based ISP V21.

A report on ISPReview claimed that as of 4pm yesterday, V21 had agreed to acquire the assets of Cloud Nine.

He declined to discuss the terms of the deal but insisted that V21's main concern was to "pick up the pieces" and try to get people back online as quickly as possible.

However, Emeric Miszti, the CEO of Cloud Nine, told The Register this morning that there was some "wobbling on the deal".

"We haven't heard from V21 this morning. The deal is not signed, sealed and delivered," he said.

"Mr Miszti says he has received interest from a number of other ISPs and wants to see "a done deal today".

And he hit out at "wild speculation" that the company's decision to close down its operation yesterday was due to anything other than the security attack that floored the ISP.

"We're totally solvent and have a positive balance sheet," he said.

But the scale of the attack was so crippling the ISP didn't have the resources to cope, he said.

"We were too small to cope with an emergency of this size," he said. ®

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