PlayStation Network Maintenance Today, The Final Step to Fully Operational?

Sony released the following statement about PSN downtime today:

Starting soon, the PlayStation Network will be inaccessible for several hours for maintenance. The server maintenance performed at this time represents a crucial step in the full restoration for PSN, including the PlayStation Store.

During this maintenance period, users will be unable to sign in to PSN, though those that are already logged in should be able to remain online.

Resumption of full PlayStation Network service is still on track for this week in most regions.

Thank you once again for your patience as we work to return PSN to the highest level of service.

This is from the US PlayStation blog and seems to point to a final server patch or configuration that could be the makings of the return to full operational status including the PlayStation store. Hopefully everything will go smoothly and we’ll see that all come back online tomorrow or the next day. They are sticking with the end of week expectation so I have to believe that this is one of the final steps with perhaps one more server patch tomorrow or Friday, if at all.