This is the exact opposite of server uptime. Usually expressed in percentile, this condition refers to the time duration that a hosting service is down or unavailable. In a web hosting environment, a downtime may mean a lot of things. It might indicate a disconnection of a server from a network or that a server has shut down. It can also mean that the unavailability was caused by an HTTP service error.
Companies who have dedicated e-commerce in the revenue portfolio will feel the hard impact of a downtime. There will be direct and indirect damage to be felt. The availability of a website is crucial to most businesses and not only for direct sales. Other services that also rely on a website are customer service, after sales promos, product launches and the like. Experts have pegged the cost of a downtime at around $1000 an hour in losses. But the overall damage will not be determined immediately as indirect costs on lost opportunities and effect on business image and credibility could not be ascertained exactly.
