From America today comes the rather alarming news that the first bankruptcy of a major provider has occurred, leaving it's users in a state of chaos. This news comes hard on the heels of the recent dot.com failures, adding to this year's rather disastrous start in the world of Information Technology.

The report entitled from The New York Times By Simon Romero reads as follows:- Web Users Left Scrambling as a Big D.S.L. Network Goes Dark

'The first bankruptcy of a major provider of fast Internet access sent more than 100,000 computer users scrambling to find new service yesterday as the nationwide network of NorthPoint Communications was shut down.

The closing of NorthPoint's system — which offered Web service to small Internet service providers in cities across the country, including hundreds of homes and businesses in New York — came after AT&T reached a $135 million deal to acquire most of NorthPoint's assets, but not its customers.'

Further information is available at http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/30/technology/30DIGI.html

No doubt this will come as a shock to users of the Internet. People will be left wondering just how safe their Internet Provider might be - who could be the next Provider hit and will it affect the UK Providers? For those who rely heavily on the Internet maybe this is a good time to consider major backup strategies.

TrainingZONE says: This could well be a one-off incident, but it may be prudent for users of the Internet to consider how such an event could affect them. In particular, users who rely heavily upon their ISP, to consider what back up, quick solution alternative or improvisations they might employ should such a situation arise.

We will report any further developments related to this matter as soon as we learn of them.

In particular we would welcome reference from our readers on the matter.

Kathleen Hopper
IT Training Editor.