Dell site goes down during Xmas rush

PC giant Dell has been besieged with problems on its website during one of the busiest weeks of the year.

The outage, which lasted for several hours, meant some visitors trying to access the site yesterday failed to do so, potentially costing the PC maker important sales during the festive shopping season.

Dell spokesman Bob Kaufman confirmed that there had been a problem, but he said access had been restored to the site as of Wednesday afternoon.

Kaufman said: "We obviously regret any inconvenience we caused to customers."

The outage may have caused the company some financial damage, but determining how much could be tricky.

Brooks Gray, an analyst at Technology Business Research, said: "It could be tough for Dell management to gauge how much business they lost. There is always the potential that customer will be willing to come back later or tomorrow."

Gray estimates that Dell makes upward of $80m per day in sales via its website, particularly during the holiday season. Given that, "it's safe to say it will be losing at least a few million in potential business," he said.

John G Spooner writes for News.com