Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

The Fourth of July weekend for many was a great opportunity to sit back, relax, spend some time with family and friends and enjoy great food and fireworks. Many were even looking forward to a bit of downtime, wherein there would be time for fireworks of a different sort, the explosions and excitement of video games. For the PlayStation Network, meanwhile, the fireworks had a bit of fizzle involved as an outage hit the PlayStation Network just ahead of the Fourth of July weekend.

Reports suggest that the PlayStation Network—hub of online gaming for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 alike, and others—went down just ahead of the Fourth of July holiday weekend after suffering an outage just days prior. Several services were unavailable, including access to the PlayStation Store, the PlayStation Video system, and PlayStation Plus. Even profiles were inaccessible in that time, rendering essentially the entirety of PlayStation Network out of play.

The PlayStation Network, according to Sony, is currently up and running, with all its services said to be active and in play. Some reports suggest outages are still happening, though, hinting that the bulk of users may be back on but not entirely everyone is operational just yet. Some have speculated that this may be another major attack from a hacker group like the Lizard Squad, though at last report, no one's taken credit for this particular outage just yet. It's also said to be not a part of scheduled downtime—it's a safe bet that no one was going to schedule downtime ahead of what was for many a three-day weekend—as there was maintenance done on the system reportedly back on June 29.

While no one's quite sure just what happened, or just how far it went, there's still one critical takeaway from all this, and that's the value of having backup systems in place. Outages of all kinds have an impact on the bottom line, and for Sony, that impact could have been substantial. Not only is there outright loss from the lack of a functioning storefront, but also, there's the impact that comes from lost reputation. With Microsoft (News - Alert) and the Xbox One off in the wings, any loss in PlayStation gamer count will likely proceed to Microsoft's camp. That's why a power protection system, like the kind made by Minuteman, can be so vital in helping to keep operations running. While some power protection systems are sufficient to save work and properly shut down a PC in the midst of a power outage, other backup systems can help keep a system running even through a more prolonged outage. Having either kind on hand can be a help, though in this case, the more powerful the backup system the more help it can offer.

Backup systems are important to help keep the flow of business running naturally, even through the worst that nature—or hackers—can offer. Power protection systems can be just the thing to provide that help, and those who prepare for the worst are more likely to enjoy the best.