Down

In IT terms, when a system is down, it is not available to users. This is not necessarily due to hardware or software faults, it may well be necessary to disconnect non-IT users, or take the system down for maintenance, installation of new hardware, loading new software etc. Traditionally such activities would take place after the End of Day, but the advent of 24x7 processing means there is no natural break in the cycle, and IT staff will therefore schedule the work for the time of minimum system workload - probably around 03:00 on Sunday morning!