World wide web well connected

NZ web status

By PETER SINCLAIR

As the first dawn of a new age approaches and the Y2K front the New Zealand internet appears little affected by the `Y2K bug'.

Telecom's Clive Litt at the telco's Y2K Management Centre in Wellington reported shortly after the midnight roll-over that there was no apparent threat to connectivity on the local net.

In Auckland, Xtra's Richard Ram said that both Xtra's website and email facility were functioning normally. At Ihug, Simon Lyall reported that the Auckland-based ISP had experienced no problems either, but noted that internet usage had plunged from 6pm, and by midnight equalled the normal 4am trough.

Predictions that the infrastructure of the whole world-wide web might slow dramatically, or even crash, under the pressure of millions of simultaneous users as dawn sweeps across the globe have not yet been borne out. But if New Zealand's experience so far is any guide, surfers in industrialisd nations have little to worry about.