How do I attach to a news server?

In the Fall of 2006 My Opera's servers were straining to handle site traffic. New servers were available since September 5. The hardware was originally scheduled to be installed alongside a software upgrade but the software upgrade became a major effort. It occurred on October 10 at least 2 weeks before any hardware upgrade. It was scheduled to begin at 6:00 UTC and last for 4 to 5 hours.