In the aftermath of Michael Jackson’s untimely death yesterday, many people are noticing a general slow-down on the internet caused by increased traffic to news sites etc.

Google have reported that they actually feared that their network was under attack at one point yesterday due to the massive number of similar “Michael Jackson” search term look-ups around the time when there was still speculation about his fate.

The Twitter network crashed completely (again).

Many news organisations have experienced problems which appear to have continued into today : CNN, BBC, Sky, AOL, CBS, Yahoo and MSNBC all suffered slowdowns.

The additional traffic to these websites is having a knock-on effect on other internet traffic – infact average download times were doubled at around 2.30PM Pacific time yesterday.

This all just goes to show that world-wide news items can affect the fragile internet which we have all grown to depend upon. We all expect it to be there when we need it, but the fact is that the internet does have a finite capacity and it sometimes gets pretty close to being “full”.

It’s encouraging, therefore, that the UK government announced yesterday that a cyber-terrorism plan is in place now that the lack of access to the internet is seen as a potential terrorist target, but if million’s of people’s internet access can be affected by a single news story, are the Government’s plans going to be enough to counter a deliberate attack. What do you think ? Are you going to leave it to trust that the Government’s plans are going to be good enough or are you going to start making some fall-back plans for your business yourself ?

There are things which businesses can do to mitigate their company operations against internet failures – true, if the entire internet is down, many backup solutions will fail, but that’s why it’s so essential to have an up-to-date Disaster Recovery Plan with different options which has been throught-out in advance rather than at the time of most stress. As the saying goes “the best war plans are made in peace time” !

If your company still does not have a DR plan in place, call ACS for help, rather than leaving it to chance – after all, how many people predicted MJ’s sudden demise ? You never know when the unexpected is going to happen.

As per the Pre Budget Report of 24th November, the standard rate of UK VAT is decreasing from 17.5% to 15% on the 1st December 2008.  This change may affect any website that has been developed by ACS Limited, both past and present.

Where applicable, websites that are managed under a current support contract, as opposed to a standard hosting contract, will be updated to reflect the new VAT rate on the 1st December.  If you do not want us to make any such alterations, please contact us immediately via our support website.  If we do not have any instruction to the contrary by 1PM on the 30th December, we will automatically update your website if it is deemed necessary.

Owners of websites that are not covered by a current support contract will be contacted shortly if any changes may be required.  Please note that all out of contract changes are chargeable items.

We will also be updating our own Secure Payment services, SecureSiteSolutions to reflect the necessary changes.  These will take effect as of 08:00 on the 1st December 2008.

Irrespective of the support status of your website, the VAT rate change has the affect of decreasing the end consumer/retail price.  If you do not wish you consumer/retail prices to reflect the VAT rate change, it may be necessary for you to configure new (increased) prices on your website.

If you have any questions or queries as to how the VAT change may affect your website, please contact our Support Team through our support website at http://www.acssupport.co.uk

As of the 1st December 2008, the Standard Rate of UK VAT is decreasing from 17.5% to 15%.  This change, whilst only for 13 months, will require changes to all software that performs any form of Accounting functionality that involves VAT calculations.

For the most part, this will equate to the necessity of either re-configuring your accounting software and/or installing an update from the original vendor.  If you have an queries as to what changes may be required, please contact either the software vendor or your Account Software support provider.

Generally speaking, ACS Limited does not directly support any accounting software (like Sage 200, Quickbooks etc).  Furthermore, some vendors require you to have a support contract in place (with them) prior to either providing technical support and/or program updates.

If you have any questions or queries regarding how this change may affect your IT systems, please contact your Accounting Software provider.  If you have any queries as to the installation of any required updates, please contact our Support Team via http://www.acssupport.co.uk.