E-Commerce Availability Isn't Always 24 x 7 x 365
One of the many attractive features of electronic commerce is that the "stores" (websites) can be open 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, every day of the year. Generally speaking, with the proper hardware and redundant systems in place, this 24 x 7 x 365 availability can be achieved. Larger e-commerce websites, in terms of revenue and brand awareness, almost always achieve this availability target.
Given this fact, we were puzzled to receive the following message on the sonystyle.com site during the peak of the 2001 holiday shopping season.
