Dell site dragged back up after unplanned downtime

Dell's Web site was resurrected today after a networking glitch caused hours of lost Internet sales. According to the direct seller, the site was inaccessible from the early hours of yesterday morning and was only believed to have affected the US. And the problems happened during Thanksgiving week, traditionally the time the Christmas spending spree kicks off in the US. It was not revealed for how exactly how long the site was out of action. Today, the Texas-based vendor blamed a routine technical operation for the problem with its newly redesigned sales portal, which normally hauls in a cool $30 million in revenue per day. "We are aware that www.dell.com is not accessible to many Internet users," it said in a statement. "The problem, which resulted from a routine networking procedure, is in the interface between the Dell network and Internet service providers. "The issue has nothing to do with the dell.com site itself, the recent redesign/relaunch of dell.com or the hardware or software on which it runs." CNet readers complained of similar problems with the site last weekend, which Dell said it was not aware of. Dell redesigned its Web site over the first weekend in November. It conducts over 40 per cent of its business via the Web. ®