Massive e-commerce service recovers from lengthy technical glitch

By Daniel Sieberg
CNN.com Technology Editor

(CNN) -- A massive e-commerce service has now repaired its technical problems after being inaccessible for nearly three days during the height of the online shopping season.

Nexchange Corp., based in Atlanta, Georgia, allows other Web sites to choose products for an e-store without losing any traffic.

A statement issued from Nexchange on Sunday said its difficulties were "caused by hardware failure and were not due to the increased holiday shopping or the Nexchange technology."

Some of the Web sites affected by the Nexchange problems included CNN.com, CNNfn.com, Travelnow.com, Weather.com and Cox Interactive Media. Products from more than 50 retailers are offered to Nexchange's network of about 30,000 Web sites.

In essence, Nexchange hosts the stores, processes the customer payment, passes the orders to the merchant and then writes commission checks for the affiliates. Although the stores have the look and feel of the member's Web site, Nexchange hosts all the stores on its own servers.

Joe Michaels, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Nexchange, told CNN.com on Friday that the server logs would be examined to determine the exact nature of the hardware failure.

A spokeswoman from Keynote Systems Inc., which monitors Internet and e-commerce performance, said a shutdown at this time of year is especially detrimental to businesses like Nexchange.

"This is obviously a terrible time of year for Nexchange.com to be experiencing such serious technical difficulties," said Marilyn Kanas, vice president of public services at San Mateo, California-based Keynote Systems.

The next few weeks leading up to the holiday season are seen as critical for retail sites.

Nexchange's difficulties follow on the heels of a brief crash at Amazon.com on Thursday -- the second there in less than a week.

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Keystone Systems
Nexchange

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