Downtime will cost UK companies £715m this year

The cost of downtime in the UK is set to leap from £565m in 2001 to £715m this year.

The figures from the Yankee Group show that as business becomes increasingly focussed on the internet, keeping systems up and running has become even more crucial - and downtime much more expensive.

The figure relates to direct costs resulting from idle infrastructure and the loss of transactions. It does not, however, include indirect costs, such as loss of future sales and damage to a company's reputation.

The research was commissioned by web-hosting company Worldport.

Nicholas Jeffery, chief operating officer of the company, said in a statement: "With UK business increasingly turning to the internet as a source of new commercial opportunities and routes to market, these figures are a stark warning that companies simply cannot afford to compromise on the robustness of their websites or web-enabled business processes."