hours on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning after North Rock suffered a multiple systems failure.

The move left companies and home users unable to connect from 11.30 p.m. on Tuesday until 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday, when the service was eventually restored.

According to North Rock, the Island-wide failure was due to the installation of new equipment.

Logic customers, the only other provider on the Island, were not affected by the disruption to the Internet service.

A spokesperson for North Rock said: "North Rock Communications experienced a multiple system failure at 11.30 p.m. on Tuesday 24th resulting from the installation of new equipment.

"We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused our customers. The network was back on-line at 8.30 a.m. Wednesday morning.'' North Rock said its goal was to provide a 99.99 percent reliable system to its customers.

"North Rock is committed to providing excellence in customer service. To ensure maximum reliability we have built a network with multiple routes off Island, two Network Operations Centres and redundant systems.

"Our goal is to provide our valued customers with 99.99 percent system reliability. We will take all measures necessary to achieve this goal.'' Many corporate Internet users have both North Rock and Logic installed in case of either system failing.

Computer crash causes chaos North Rock Communications Ltd. started up in 1998 as a subsidiary of North Rock Ventures Ltd., also parent to local systems integrator Applied Computer Technologies and computer product and supplies retailers The Complete Office.

According to figures released earlier this month, nearly two out of three households now have Internet access.

According to the Bermuda Omnibus survey, this represents a 50 percent growth in demand for the Internet over the past two years alone.

The survey, done in March 2001, showed 64 percent of Bermudians now have Internet access through a home computer.

The only two providers of household Internet access are currently North Rock and Logic, who have been battling over the lucrative and ever-growing market during the past two years.