Have they given any reason for the delay?

Yes, the first batch was ordered mid April, 10 weeks passed end of June - so we are overdue. AFAIK, no chips have been delivered so far, so let us hope and see how much the delay will be.

Notice this - last two retarget periods (25.5.-16.6) hashrate increased by 60 Thash!
In that time ASICMiner charts are showing increase from 20 to 40 Thash. So, 20 Thash increase is from ASICMiner, but where did the rest of 40 Thash came from?
In that time Avalon shipped a few units from batch #2, and BFL a couple hundreds(?) Jalapenos. But that's maybe 5-10 Thash. There is still more then 30 Thash of new power unacounted! Some unknown company developed an ASIC in secret?

In connection with the network failure in one of the segments of the network data center possible disruptions to the exchange.

Patience. I have been asked this all over again and there is a queue of folks that need some more chips to get their mining boards fully populated.

I will have some more chips to offer shortly, preparing an official announcement soon.

BFL stopped mining on their own and starts shipping? j/k

Avalon just opened up:

SUPPORT.AVALON-ASICS.com (http://support.avalon-asics.com)

It's not loading for me. But may be worth a look zefir for that batch you paid for but didn't get confirmation for.

QG