SEO Service Rebranding

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(Gawkwire.com) – Professional search engine optimization (SEO) is a complex process that requires a many-faceted approach. SEO techniques change constantly, which is why so many marketing and ad agencies, web developers and local business consultants shy away from offering it to their clients.

Internet entrepreneur, James Schramko, created the immensely successful SEO Partner service in 2009 to provide a high level SEO service to his colleagues and clients. However, increasingly popular is the provision of this service to consultants, on a ‘Reseller’ basis.

Who Are Resellers?

Client requests for SEO services are received by businesses as diverse as advertising agencies, marketing and local business consultants and web developers. It is a marketing strategy, but it is one in which few marketers are adept.

The inability of these organizations to provide SEO to their clients became a thing of the past, however, with the creation of SEO Partner.

Schramko explains “We have made it possible for all manner of businesses to offer SEO services to their clients, on a reseller basis. Their clients never need to know that the reseller is not the person delivering the service.”

Report Rebranding

SEO Partner resellers receive monthly reports for each of their clients.

“We are now offering to add our resellers’ logos to their clients’ reports, which will streamline the reporting process for them.” says Schramko.

“Through SEO Partner there is now no reason why all ad agencies, consultants and web developers cannot offer SEO services to their clients and make at least 100% profit margin on top.”

SEO Partner Services

SEO strategies are constantly changing, and can include article, video, forum and social media marketing, along with blog networking and press release creation. All of these techniques play different roles in the SEO Partner suite of products, which have been tailored to suit both small and large businesses.

More details are available at SEOPartner.com

About James Schramko

James Schramko is a Sydney based Internet Marketer who fired his boss in May 2008. Since then his internet marketing business has grown exponentially. James has not just mastered the essential skills you need to be a success on the internet, but he is applying them in innovative ways that have skyrocketed him to international renown.

James continues to developed his suite information products and automated profit systems that are in demand by the top internet marketers around the world (they now call him for advice!). In so doing he indulges his passion for product development and innovation, and mentoring students in high-level and ethical internet marketing.

About SEO Partner

SEO Partner is a division of James Schramko’s SuperFastBusiness. After testing several supply sources on many blogs and websites James built a high performance team to develop the very best done-for-you SEO service on the planet.

Its products can encompass article, video, press release and social media marketing, along with other high level linking strategies designed to improve the search engine rankings of small and large businesses. SEO Partner now has five specially assembled packages from which to choose.

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Mailshell’s New Encrypted DNS Service

(Gawkwire.com) – Mailshell, the leading provider of Internet security engines for OEMs, today introduced Mailshell DNS, the first DNS service with military-grade encryption. This new DNS service closes DNS’ primary security hole and strengthens the security of all web sites. It relies on secure AES 256-bit encryption that would, according to Verisign, require trillions of years to crack. Mailshell’s DNS service can also block and filter unwanted and malicious web sites. Thousands of companies and millions of consumers worldwide currently rely on ‘Powered by Mailshell’ engines for Internet security.

All modern web browsers can connect to online banks, shops, and web sites securely but they first depend on an unencrypted, vulnerable DNS service to find the Internet address of those web sites. An unencrypted DNS service can be attacked by hackers to return false results, directing users to fake sites that the hackers control and that can be used to exploit users. Some vulnerable DNS services are currently used by millions of people and are tempting and lucrative targets for hackers. According to a 2008 warning from US-CERT (Computer Emergency Readiness Team), "web traffic, e-mail, and other important network data, can be redirected to systems under the attacker’s control" via DNS poisoning.

“Personal data and financial information are at greater risk from DNS hijacking and ‘man-in-the-middle’ attacks than ever before,” said Tonny Yu, CEO of Mailshell. “Our DNS security platform offers turn-key functionality, easy integration and guaranteed protection without long development cycles, delayed product launches or increased support costs.”

The Mailshell DNS SDK is available for OEM licensing. Mailshell’s DNS SDK combines a small software library with the power of LiveFeed, Mailshell’s fast, reliable, and secure cloud-based data service. LiveFeed includes 34 secured data centers in 12 countries on five continents, to ensure minimum latency and guaranteed 100 percent uptime. Mailshell has more than 11 years of experience in cloud computing-based security and LiveFeed handles more than 10 billion queries per month.

Mailshell collects LiveFeed data from around the world via its network of OEM partners, statistics gathered from its SDKs, data sharing partnerships and LiveReport, Mailshell’s collaborative network of end-users. Mailshell gathers, aggregates, and synthesizes hundreds of millions of data points per day to provide a comprehensive view of new attack vectors, security threats and changing online reputations. The resulting LiveFeed data is available via near real-time queries by Mailshell’s OEM partners, either as a stand-alone service or from within one of Mailshell’s SDKs.

Mailshell (http://www.mailshell.com) is the leading provider of Internet security engines for OEMs, including Internet traffic reputation, anti-spam, anti-phishing and DNS security. Mailshell’s software helps its global network OEM partners, including McAfee, CA, Check Point, ESET, AVG, Avast, NETGEAR and others, generate new revenue, up-sell existing products to new customers and minimize related engineering and support costs. Follow Mailshell on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mailshell.

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SMX West Keynote Presentations Announced

Gawkwire.com) – The producers of Search Marketing Expo – SMX West today announced the keynote lineup for the March 8-10 conference, which will be held at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, CA.

SMX West conference chair and SearchEngineLand.com editor-in-chief Danny Sullivan will deliver his prospective on internet marketing’s hottest topics in his State of Search Marketing keynote. Topics he’ll cover include the convergence of search and social media, content farms and the shift from browser-based search to mobile apps.

Foursquare Director of Business Development Tristan Walker will participate in a keynote conversation about location-based internet services, how they are changing consumer behavior and the implications for brand marketers. Walker will be interviewed by Search Engine Land Executive Editor Chris Sherman and Sullivan.

Author Steven Levy spent two years "embedded" with Google, attending strategy and development meetings, interviewing key people, and closely observing the company’s inner workings. His keynote will discuss what he learned prior to the release of his new book In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives.

In addition to these keynotes, the SMX West conference agenda features more than 60 sessions from more than 100 speakers on paid search advertising, SEO, social media marketing and more. See the complete SMX West agenda at http://searchmarketingexpo.com/west/agenda.

All Access conference tickets, which include access to sessions, keynotes, meals and networking activities, are now available for $1495. One day All Access, Workshop, Networking and free Expo+ passes are also available.

Register online for SMX West at http://searchmarketingexpo.com/west/register or by calling (877) 242-5242.

About Search Marketing Expo – SMX West and Third Door Media

SMX West features sessions just for you, whether you are just starting out in search or looking for advanced tactics, work on an in-house SEM team, hail from an agency or own your own business.

Attend SMX West for:

Exceptional content so compelling, you’ll want to implement what you’ve learned before leaving the conference. Super-charged sessions on PPC, SEO, local search, search friendly design and social media marketing will help you succeed today, tomorrow and in the future.

Invaluable connections made possible by the ultimate mix of structured networking opportunities and social events. SMX makes it easy to make new contacts and exchange ideas with industry thought leaders and colleagues.

Essential conveniences to help you juggle your every-day responsibilities while maximizing your conference time: always-available and free Wi-Fi; hot lunches, snacks and beverages all day; access to all presentations and tools to plan your custom itinerary.

SMX: The Search Marketing Expo conference series is produced by Third Door Media, Inc. Third Door Media’s mission is to empower internet and search marketing professionals by providing trusted content and community services they need to be successful. Search Marketing Expo conferences are held around the world and include: SMX West (San Jose, CA), SMX East (New York City), SMX Advanced (Seattle, WA and London, England), SMX Munich, SMX Sydney, SMX Melbourne, SMX Toronto, SMX Paris and SMX Stockholm.

Third Door Media publishes Search Engine Land, the leading search marketing news and analysis site. The company also produces Search Marketing Now, a lead-generation marketing solution for suppliers of SEM-related products and services, and operates Sphinn.com, a social news site that allows search and internet marketers to share news stories, participate in subject-specific 
discussion forums, and build their professional networks
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WebHostingBuzz Enjoys 200% Growth of VPS Division in 2010

(The Hosting News) – WebHostingBuzz, a leading web provider with roots in the United States and United Kingdom, has enjoyed a 200% growth of its VPS division in 2010. This comes as a result of its enhanced VPS hosting services. The company currently offers ten OpenVZ and XEN VPS servers.

“Since the launch of our Virtual Private Servers in 2009, these have been readily snapped up by our existing client base. In 2010, we witnessed tremendous growth,” Matt Russell, CEO of WebHostingBuzz, said. “Our VPS offerings have been particularly successful amongst our clients because we offer value added services and put the customer first.”

WebHostingBuzz offers both managed and unmanaged offerings with service plans available for both. Customer support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. Service plans include monitoring of critical infrastructure and web services, including HTTPD, MySQL, DNS, and other server-specific processes.

WebHostingBuzz’s US-based VPS servers are located in Atlanta, GA and Phoenix, AZ, giving customers the choice to host their websites on either the West or East coast. Servers feature the highest end technology: VPSes are hosted on Dell enterprise-grade hardware nodes which feature 8 to 16 CPUs and 24 GB DDR3 ECC RAM. Four to eight hard drives running on RAID 10 are housed within the server. VPSes are always optimized and never overloaded.

Each virtual private server comes with full root access, so it almost feels like a dedicated server. VPS servers give owners peace of mind that they do not have to worry about maintaining the hardware of their server. Each VPS is fully customizable, and many WebHostingBuzz service offerings include cPanel. Operating system choice is left to the customer, and many flavors of Linux are included, including Fedora, Ubuntu, Gentoo, OpenSUSE, and CentOS. FreeBSD is also an option.

About WebHostingBuzz.com:

WebHostingBuzz.com is a leading US web hosting provider with over 30,000 clients and home to around 500,000 websites. Headquartered in Boston, USA, WebHostingBuzz.com is widely respected as one of the most customer service focused web hosts in the industry today.

WebHostingBuzz.com was also one of the pioneers of social media marketing and has an established Facebook presence at http://facebook.webhostingbuzz.com where customers enjoy special offers, post reviews and interact with other customers.

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Integrated VoIP and FoIP Software

(The Hosting News) – Floreat, Inc. announces the immediate availability of FloVFoIP, an integrated software suite of host and embedded Voice over IP (VoIP) and Fax over Internet Protocol (FoIP) solutions, as well as product-engineering services for global markets. This will effectively meet the growing demand for Multimedia products that support more than just Voice. The main applications are IP enabled SOHO and other gateways, Media consoles, next generation Internet-enabled Fax and Voice machines, Green Fax, Smart Phones, Tablets, VoIP Fax, T.38 VoIP and other specialized applications. In addition to feature enhancements and reduced time-to-market, this suite of FloVFoIP software and associated services lower manufacturers’ costs by more than 50% relative to other solutions.

With increasing e-communications and declining PSTN deployment, it was assumed that Fax would disappear; to everyone’s surprise, its presence has grown steadily to meet the requirements of corporations, lawyers, hospitals and even home-users. With VoIP now widely-deployed and accepted, many VoIP users need reliable Fax communication over their VoIP lines. This is made possible by products such as our FloFoIP and FloVFoIP that enable Voice and Fax communication over the Internet.

With the goal of meeting any application or communication requirement, Floreat has integrated its VoIP and FoIP software products, using 20 man-years worth of proven legacy voice and fax technology, deployed by more than a dozen industry leaders. In addition to making the integrated VFoIP work seamlessly, Floreat’s engineering team has taken care of quality related issues at the code level and thus enhanced the user-experience. FloVFoIP, our integrated VoIP and FoIP software solution, include an integrated VoIP and FoIP Framework; G.711, G.72x, iLBC codecs; VAD/CNG; G.168 Echo Canceller; Jitter Buffer management; PLC, DTMF; CP tones; G.167 AEC; Voice-Fax discrimination; T.38 FoIP relay with V.17, V.29, V.27ter, V.21ch.2 Group3 fax modems; Terminating T.38, T.30 Fax Application Software with Tiff support; QoE and performance enhancements; support of call control stacks – SIP, H.323, and others. FloVFax also supports Fax and Voice over RF links, and enables Green Fax that eliminates ink, paper and thermal transfers on mobile and portable communication devices.

Floreat also offers product-engineering services for software, firmware and hardware development. Floreat’s team has developed this expertise while enabling and supporting customers’ products with its software. The product-engineering services include software porting on embedded processors and DSPs, software optimization for footprints and CPU load, customization such as integration within any specified OS environment, development of device drivers, prototype hardware-design, and support of various AFEs. Our well-equipped test-lab facilitates testing and accommodates other development requests.

These unique, robust FloVFoIP offerings provide our customers a single source for their Voice and Fax requirements and overcome the challenges inherent in other solutions, such as incomplete vendor-offerings that do not permit a combined VoIP-FoIP product, lack of inter-operability with the numerous gateways and 100+ fax machine models available on the market, and inflexible incumbent (and obsolescing) hardware chipsets.

“Our team thrives on innovative and creative solutions to our customers’ specialized requirements in these transitional times; we thus provide an essential ingredient for their success in the market-place. With an integrated VoIP and FoIP soft-solution, we can quickly provide essential communications functionality in devices- at a fraction of current recurring expenses. Seamless migration is facilitated by our structured APIs and our engineering expertise”, said Raj Gupta, Floreat’s Vice President of Sales and Applications.

Processors Supporting Integrated VoIP and FoIP Software (FloVFoIP):

    * ARM 7/9/9E/Cortex A8
    * MIPS
    * TI C5000 and C6000
    * Intel Pentium fixed and floating point, Atom
    * Marvell XScale
    * ADI Blackfin (BF53x)
    * PowerPC, STM, SuperH cores
    * CEVA DSPs

About Floreat, Inc.:

Floreat, Inc. (http://www.floreatinc.com) is a Silicon Valley provider of embedded multimedia software and services to the Telecom Industry (equipment and device manufacturers, service providers) and the Embedded World (semiconductors, mobile and portable devices, consumer electronics, MFPs).

We offer a range of rigorously tested and robust Fax, FoIP, Speech, VoIP, Telephony, Modem, DSVD, Imaging and Video Software Products that are supported on a variety of DSPs and Processors as well as in ANSI C. Floreat’s XoIP software – Voice, Fax, Modem and Video enabled over IP- caters to embedded Triple Play applications and can be customized for specialized applications. Floreat’s code is fully compliant with ITU and other applicable standards, and is field-proven. We also provide product-engineering and silicon-platform software services, hardware design services, and R&D consultancy from world-renowned experts. Floreat enjoys an excellent reputation in the marketplace and has many distinguished customers like Apple, Brother International, MultiTech, Siemens, LGE, Motorola, Hitachi, Lockheed Martin, NEC, Harris Corporation, National Semiconductor, ESS, Zilog, Casio, SmartLink, DSP Group, Infineon, STMicroelectronics, net.com, GVC, CEVA, AMCC, Ericsson, IPM Group, C&S Tech, ETRI, KICOM, Furuno, Sunrise Telecom, Honeywell, Govt. of Israel, US Government departments as well as many smaller customers.

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The New Net Approaches – Introducing IPV6

(The Hosting News) – The way we all handle IP addresses is about to change. The IPv4 central pool is now empty, so it is time to look forward to the new IPv6 and the future of how we handle IP addresses in general on the web.  While this may sound like a drastic series of events, there really is nothing to worry about.  The transition from using IPv4 to IPv6 will be a smooth one.

On February 3, 2011 the last batch of address blocks were allocated to the Regional Internet Registries.  Each one of these address blocks counts for around 16.7 million possible addresses or 80 million combined potential addresses in all. The lifespan for these IP addresses to last is about three to six months.

This is a change, as I mentioned before – however web hosts and anybody else who has to deal with the assignment of IP addresses are already working and have plans in place to support the newer IPv6 standard.  The main benefit from switching from IPv4 to IPv6 is that there will be more IP addresses available for the world to use.  IPv6 can support 340 undecillion addresses, where IPv4 could only support 4,294,967,296 addresses.  With the growth of the digital and online age, we simply needed a bigger pool of addresses to work with and IPv6 delivers.

Businesses, organizations, and internet service providers have already started to put in place systems that will be able to handle the new ways of doing business.  For some time, we will need to be able to provide support for both IPv6 users and services and the ones that are still using IPv4.  This can be solved by providing IPv6 to IPv4 translation or even running dual-stack IPv4 to IPv6 networks.

There will be some bumps in the road as the switchover happens from IPv4 to IPv6 however, there should be no massive problems or issues arise.  Chances are that most people, outside of those who have to directly relate with IP addresses will even notice the change.

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Call for Speakers Ends After TODAY

The HostingCon 2011 Call For Speakers deadline is today, February 7, 2011.

If you’re interested in speaking at the premier gathering of hosted services professionals in the world, please submit a session proposal TODAY.

We’ll be evaluating speaking proposals in early 2011. If your proposal is chosen you will be contacted with more details. All speakers chosen to present at HostingCon 2011 will be notified no later than 3/31/2011.

All speaking proposals are subject to adherence of the speaker guidelines. These guidelines can be viewed before submitting a speaking proposal.

View the Guidelines & Submit A Speaking Proposal Now

The final deadline for submitting a speaking proposal is TODAY. Speaking proposals received after this date will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. However, there is no guarantee of consideration for the HostingCon 2011 program if your proposal is received after TODAY!

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Web Hosting Talk Insider – Communication is the key to success

Hello Fellow WHTers!
Communication is the key to success

Dennis (aka SoftWareRevue) is away on family business this week, so I'm writing this issue of The WHT Insider.

I was away myself last week on family business. Most of you wouldn't be aware that I have a very large family in the island state of Tasmania (which is over 5 hours flying time away from where I am).

While I was there, I received contact from an old friend of my immediate family (who knew I was travelling), and she asked if I had any stopover time in Melbourne. I told her the estimated time of arrival in Melbourne and what time I left for the last leg of my trip home. She said she would ask her daughter if she would drive her to the airport. That was the last contact I had from her before I left Tasmania, so I wasn't sure if they were going to make it.

When I arrived in Melbourne, I glanced over the sea of faces that were waiting for my fellow passengers but didn't see anyone who resembled my two friends that I hadn't seen in about 20 years. I hung around in that area for a few minutes and then went to check in for my home flight. That killed about an hour of my waiting time. When there was only an hour left to boarding time, I started making my way to the departure area. With about 300 more metres to go, I spotted a blonde woman with a big grin on her face coming towards me and I immediately recognised her as the daughter of my friend. She led me back to where she had left her Mum and there we sat chatting until I was due to board the aircraft.

With better communication I would have known for sure they were coming but might be a little late. I would have waited in arrivals for them and we could have spent nearly 3 hours together instead of just the one! Communication is the key to the success of personal relationships as well as in business.

Dennis should be back on board for the next WHT Insider, so I'll leave you now to browse our featured threads. You can also follow us @WebHostingTalk.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

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exius Launches Smart Grid Services Offering

(The Hosting News) - Nexius, the leader in delivering end-to-end wireless services and software solutions to industries worldwide, today unveiled a new smart grid services offering. The new offering delivers to energy and utility companies the strategic services necessary to simplify the maze of technology choices and government regulations they face with their smart grid deployments. The company is leveraging Nexius’ decade of wireless network deployment experience to provide a complete utility solution offering which includes efficient smart grid deployment strategies and full turnkey operations of smart grid design, system integration, implementation, and data management/analytics.

“With the breadth of network and technology options available today, many energy and utility companies are struggling with the challenges new smart grid network rollouts present. They need partners who have the network deployment and technology experience necessary to help them navigate the sea of options and recommend the best energy solutions for the future,” said Ned Taleb, Executive Chairman of Nexius. “Nexius’ extensive experience working with large-scale network deployments worldwide makes us uniquely capable of managing and advising on smart grid network transformation projects for our customers and partners.”

Each of Nexius’ four main service practice areas deliver the end-to-end network and technology consulting solutions energy and utilities companies need to architect and implement their smart grid vision:

Technology Strategy – Nexius’ Technology Strategy organization can work with companies to assess the business case for new smart grid technologies, perform market and competitive analysis, recommend the best network options for the business, and oversee the request for proposal process necessary to evaluate and choose vendors.

Network Engineering Services – Nexius’ Engineering Services team can integrate the advanced smart grid metering infrastructure to the provider’s back-end systems and can design the wireless networks necessary to transmit data from these new smart meters.

Software Services – Nexius’ Software Services team can assure the smart grid network’s service by analyzing the flood of performance and capacity data transmitted once systems go online and by developing new applications to further reduce cost and increase energy efficiency. Nexius service assurance teams can provide the tools utility companies need to monitor public network service agreements and hold operators accountable for any service disruptions. Nexius can also develop asset management tools which track all owned field assets, from utility poles to substations, and provide a central view of all assets.

Network Deployment Services – Nexius’ Network Deployment Services organization offers the project management, construction management, and installation services needed to deploy new smart meters and energy efficient wind turbines in the field and maintain them in the future.
Nexius also offers certified and experienced Program Management professionals to organize and lead every stage of a smart grid deployment.

To learn more about the green energy opportunities that smart grid deployments offer, companies can also read Ned Taleb’s executive commentary on the topic found on the new Nexius blog at: http://www.nexius.com/service-offerings/smart-grid-opportunities-heat-up-for-network-operators.

About Nexius

Nexius is the leader in delivering end-to-end wireless services and software solutions to industries worldwide. The company’s over 350 dedicated professionals serve as subject matter experts, providing Technology Strategy,Network Engineering Services, Network Deployment Services, and Software Services to many of today’s leading organizations. Nexius closely collaborates with their customers to deliver the strategic insight, proven experience, and practical knowledge necessary to transform their business through wireless.

Nexius is on a steady path of growth in the US and globally, ranking as the 103rd fastest growing business in America by Entrepreneur Magazine and in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and the Inc. 5000 lists. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Nexius has offices in Washington DC, Seattle, Dallas, Dubai, and Argentina. Additional information is available at +1 (703) 650-7777, info(at)nexius(dot)com, Twitter: @NexiusInc, andhttp://www.nexius.com.

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Terran Marketing Purchases

(The Hosting News) – The bar has been raised for the most expensive domain name purchase in 2011. Terran Marketing has purchased websitehosting.com from a private seller for $190,000. Their CEO, Michael Jackness was quoted as saying, “Website Hosting was a multi-billion dollar industry in 2010 and we expect that to see continued growth in 2011″.

So what are the plans for this new domain purchase? Terran Marketing stays that they want to create a diverse tool for the web hosting industry with news, articles, videos and more. They also will offer web hosting company reviews and will allow web host ranking as well.

The company, Terran Marketing, is a young one. However, even though they were only formed in 2010 they boast over 15 years of combined affiliate marketing experience. They have either purchased or have started several other websites having to do with WordPress, RV, health and travel so they have a good track record for building up successful brands.

When going into detail about why the domain was purchased, Michael Jackness goes into more detail on his personal blog. Search volume, keywords, the fact that web hosting pays high commissions, high PPC bids and more all seem to have gone into play to help them decide this was a domain they wanted to invest money into.

The website has already seen a little design work, as Terran Marketing has started to post a few news articles and posted a notice saying that the website is under construction. At this time, they are looking to launch the new website March 1, 2011.

Although we are not too far into 2011 just yet, it will be interesting to see what domain purchase (if any) will exceed the $190,000 price tag that was one websitehosting.com.

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Private Cloud Hosting: The New Frontier

Private cloud hosting represents a revolutionary new frontier in the information technology and – more specifically – the web hosting world.  Finally, the promise of computing power as a utility is upon us and it brings with it a new set of opportunities and challenges.  Many organizations are options to deploy their solutions into public cloud hosting environments, where there applications and data share physical hardware, storage, and network environments with hundreds or thousands of other companies.  While this certainly meets the needs of many businesses, many others are unwilling to take such a public plunge either because of security restrictions, performance concerns, or worries about loss of control of their infrastructure.   Because of this, a new hosting model has risen known as Private Cloud Hosting.  In the private cloud hosting model, your web site or corporate hosting infrastructure runs in a dedicated and/or virtualized environment and can be scaled up or down as your needs change.

The first advantage most often cited for private cloud hosting environments is that of security, which means both the actual physical security of the environment as well as the perceived security of the environment in that it is private unto itself.  Sites that strive to reach PCI compliance for their electronic commerce applications have found that private cloud hosting environments can be secured in a way that can allow them to successfully achieve this goal.  Physically dedicated hardware provides the assurance that no data can be mistakenly transferred or shared between businesses, which is obviously almost a pre-requisite for any electronic commerce environment. 

Many private cloud hosting solutions rely heavily on virtualization technologies, such as the Xen Cloud Platform (http://www.xen.org/products/cloudxen.html).  The Xen Cloud Platform is a popular Linux-based selection among many leading hosting companies who are now offering private cloud hosting packages based on the underlying virtualization of the environment.  A cloud based on something like Xen’s solution offers the best of both worlds.  Customers are able to both control their own utilization of system resources as their needs change without the time and expenses inherent in provisioning new server and network infrastructure.  At the same time, the underlying virtualization technology allows you to fully utilize the hardware across a variety of applications and usage scenarios.  If designed properly, this sort of solution allows businesses to optimize both their time and money investment, while perhaps simplifying the actual deployment architecture.  For example, in an optimized private cloud hosting environment, you are more focused on the actual solutions you deploy (Databases 1 and 2, Email VM 1, Web Site 1 and 2, etc.) and the dedicated capacity assigned to each which frees customers from worrying about the nine servers and their various storage needs potentially needing to scale soon to a total of 14 servers.

One additional advantage is related to the topic of resource flexibility but can be presented in a different light.  A cloud hosting environment is uniquely positions to help your business manage drastic swings in workload, whether that be due to a new organization coming on board, a roll-out from a test phase to production, or simply an onslaught of new customers due to some improved functionality or marketing.  In the traditional dedicated hosting world, these sorts of scenarios can bring a business to a complete halt if not planned for properly (and that planning itself takes a great deal of time and money in many cases).  Private cloud hosting offers the ability to reduce overall cost of a solution, the flexibility to scale to meet changing business needs, and the capacity to fully utilize your hardware and network resources.

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FIBERTOWN Breaks Ground on New Houston Colocation Data Center

(The Hosting News) – FIBERTOWN, Houston colocation provider and Central Texas business continuity campus, broadened its colocation offering and announced the groundbreaking of a new 50,000 square foot data center in North Houston, to be open for customer installation in early July. The data center will maintain fault tolerant 2N power and cooling, 24×7 security, carrier-neutral access to multiple Tier I Internet providers, and 30,000 square feet of raised floor.

“Demand for quality data center space in Houston is growing as more companies look to colocation to ensure high availability of resources and reduce IT costs,” said John Clanton, CEO for FIBERTOWN. “The easily accessible location and proximity to fiber make North Houston the perfect location for our newest state-of-the-art facility.”

With two data centers in Bryan/College Station, FIBERTOWN has attracted Houston companies looking to secure their IT systems and disaster recovery operations outside hurricane zones. The new Houston data center – located at the intersection of I45 and Beltway 8 North – will provide colocation options for Houston businesses that require more immediate access to their equipment.

The new pod-designed facility is strategically situated outside the FEMA 500-year flood plain along the main fiber route from Dallas to Houston, providing easy access to high-performance telecommunications networks. Located at 12031 North Freeway, the data center is easily accessible from all major Houston freeways.

“Our growth is a direct result of customer and market demand,” said Brandon Perryman, vice president of sales and marketing for FIBERTOWN. “Businesses with complex IT systems and mission critical applications are outgrowing their data centers. More are looking to FIBERTOWN for scalability and a 100% SLA.”

“We looked at the Houston data center market last year and see it continuing to be an underserved market in need of additional data center supply,” said Jeff Paschke, senior datacenter analyst for Tier1 Research.  “Even with the hurricane risk, the size of the economy and growth of companies in Houston results in a continued solid demand for data center space.”

FIBERTOWN has partnered with Digital Realty Trust <http://www.digitalrealtytrust.com/> , a global wholesale data center provider, for the facility. Digital Realty Trust’s modular Turn-Key Datacenter® enables more efficient use of resources and allows for easier deployment of new technologies. Three independent power rooms will deliver fully redundant, dual power to each Datacenter pod. Additional features include:
·       Multiple generators with back-up fuel supply
·       Fully redundant, 2N cooling infrastructure with leak detection on all piping
·       Network Operations Center staffed 24/7
·       Inside and perimeter security controls
·       Hot and cold aisle design for optimum efficiency
·       The latest in VESDA and smoke/fire protection

“We greatly appreciate the opportunity to support FIBERTOWN’s growth by providing it with flexible, secure and cost-effective data center facilities,” said Brent Behrman, senior vice president, sales at Digital Realty Trust.

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Hybrid Cloud Solution Unveiled By StratoGen

(The Hosting News) – VMware hosting company StratoGen today announced the launch of its eagerly awaited hybrid cloud solution. Working with VMware, StratoGen are once again first to market with a solution that enables organisations to seamlessly move virtual machines from their own infrastructure into the StratoGen cloud.

For the first time organisations can integrate their in-house VMware infrastructure with that of their virtual datacentre hosted in the StratoGen public cloud. Moving virtual machines back and forth between both environments can be achieved in a single click. By complementing their own virtualised servers with on demand capacity from the StratoGen cloud, organisations can add significant performance and resilience benefits to their IT operations.

The solution is based on technology from VMware including vCloud Director and vCloud Connector.

Mark Lewis, Business Development Manager said “StratoGen have been working with VMware for some time with vCloud Connector and are hugely excited to be the first to offer these features. We are seeing a new generation of cloud user that is fully leveraging cloud capacity and this service is what they have been crying out for. The ability to take a virtual machine running on local hardware and seamlessly push it out onto the StratoGen cloud is amazing.”

Hosted VMware environments from StratoGen take the form of a virtual datacentre with a pool of available resources such as CPU, RAM, storage and firewalls. Organisations can easily build and deploy configurations that mirror their in-house platform, opening up a whole host of possibilities including disaster recovery and load balancing.

Karl Robinson, Managing Director commented “What we are now seeing is the next wave of innovation that will ensure cloud computing is dominant in the coming years. The ability to push workloads between clouds is a reality today and I’m delighted to say that StratoGen have been at the forefront of its development.”

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Contingency Planning – How to Prepare for When Things Go Wrong

Contingency. What is it exactly? Contingency represents the variable of “it might happen and it might not”. Generally, businesses are supposed to expect the unexpected, whenever possible. This means, in the event of a catastrophic business event, you’re not left high and dry. Contingency planning means your business keeps going, performing the way it should no matter what chain of events come to pass.

What could possibly happen in managed server hosting for a customer? Because contingency will depend on the factual events that happen to your business, let’s run through a few mock scenarios. When it comes time to formulate a similar plan, you’ll be able to use this planning schematic to keep your business out of danger.

Usually, any problems you experience with servers will be on your end and not the server companies. A server’s datacenter is extremely well protected from environmental stimuli, the elements and anything that could possibly go wrong, including absence of employees. There are usually “emergency” workers ready to take the place of another at a moments notice.

Let’s say your company experiences a catastrophic event, rendering your company unable to process data to and from your location. If you have a backup plan in place, ready to carry on business from another location, having a second contract with the same server company could save you from experiencing downtime. Downtime means a loss in sales and overall profits. It could also mean the loss of your employees should any contracts you have fall through. Being able to pick up and move both the business workings and the employees is very important.

Consider everything that a second location could save you from. Nobody would quit their job because of an unstable work plan and you would gain the security, peace of mind and time you need to repair whatever went wrong at the original structure. You would also be able to perform structural expansions and upgrades to the current location you do business in.

During the moving of location, should anything go wrong, you would need a temporary stream of income to bridge the brief gap in revenue. Being able to fall back on a secondary source of income is necessary in any business that can experience downtime for any reason.

A second example of the need for contingency planning revolves around software applications. Should a piece of software malfunction or no longer live up to the expectations you desire, what choice are you left with? Some companies make the mistake of leaving this possible problem without a solution and no plan for immediate recourse. You can easily prevent this problem by continually researching new software options. Running mock software tests outside the realm of your actual business will ensure that you are never left without a secondary mode of action.

Contingency is very much about the multiple layers of securable actions. In almost every business instance, you need to be able to see a problem before it happens. Having a solution ready will keep your wheels of business not just rolling but rolling at optimum efficiency. Even if your first method of securing your contingency plan doesn’t work out, a second and third mode of action will allow you to make the proper reparations to get back on track.

A complete business failure is incredibly damaging to every aspect of a business. Reputation, productivity, employees, profits and the future of the business itself! Using the strategy above and others like it, you will be in a better position to rebound from disturbances in the regular flow of business.

How about an early warning system? Many companies use this strategy to have emergency measures in place. This way, if a problem turns into devastation, the backup plan will be ready at the flip of a switch. The trick is having the solution ready without the early warning system at all. A solution to a possibly catastrophic problem is optimally remedied by a simple change in the course of action. Kind of like a vehicle within a vehicle. Should there be a tree in the road, the vehicle within the vehicle, in this case a helicopter, is able to reach the final destination. Any repairs on the car or the road itself can be made and normal business can return.

Your own contingency plan will, of course, differ slightly from the above examples but the fundamentals won’t. This strategy has worked for ages to keep companies strong and productive no matter what happens. You can’t fix every problem before it happens but you can prepare yourself for possible outcomes

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Backing it Up – An Overview of Data Backup Solutions for Servers

Data backup solutions for servers come in two forms. Software or hardware. A software solution can be used if your computer has access to the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web provides the ability to upload your file backups to a storage facility or other secure location. While all backups use software packages to accomplish the task, it can be helpful and more reliable to use your own hardware. You can store your own hardware in any safe and secure location you choose. Away from any environmental stimuli, backup hardware like hard disks and RAM will be sure to perform at their highest standards. Keeping your own hardware in its own separate location, hooked up to the World Wide Web, is not something everyone is willing to do.

To remedy this situation, the ability to use disk and tape backups made its appearance. This allows computer professionals to configure their hard disks to record data on a variety of different removable media. You can choose to use USB drives, Flash drives, CD-ROMs, floppy disks, external hard drives and more. Flash drives and external hard drives are an economical and more efficient than traditional removable media. Floppy disks and CD-ROM’s are only effective if the size of your data is small enough to fit on the removable disks. If the size of your data is larger than that, USB plug-in drives and external hard drives would be the best option. An external hard drive is the champion of backup file storage and is optimal for reliability and disk access time.

Backing up your data remotely is another highly popular option. Providing you have continual Internet access, you can configure your server to upload a backup of your files as often as you like. Remote data storage has additional benefits as well. Your backup files are sent to a secure data storage location, safe from wind, rain, snow and dust. Providing you pay the fee, your data will be as secure as a fortress, providing you with peace of mind and effective file storage 24/7. While it does cost a moderate amount, the security and feature availability is legendary. Only the incredibly high end servers rely on their own hardware for backup storage. Most companies and businesses rely on the know how and technological prowess of data backup solutions. People who are trained to configure systems capable of successfully retrieving your data in the event of a catastrophe. fire, lightning, earthquake, floods and more!

There are many software solutions available to fit your needs. Software solutions like Carbonite Online PCBackup, HP Upline, IDrive, MozyHome and SOS Online Backup keep your data safe in multiple locations. They also provide the ability to upgrade your accounts for more professional features. You can look at the free version like a free trial, because without upgrading, you won’t get to experience the true abilities of the backup services.

With features like easy installation, unlimited backup frequency, affordable costs and outstanding customer service, backing up your files through the use of these companies resources sounds like a great idea. But be careful. Not every software based file backup solution is going to be right for you. There are benefits and drawbacks to each file storage service. For example, Carbonite Online Backup does not allow you to restore files from Windows Explorer but shines brightly in almost every other categorical classification. It’s fast, affordable and offers a robust amount of features. Small feature quirks like this can make the difference between a successful operation and the need to reformulate a file backup plan.

Which solution is right for you and your business? The same features and functions apply to a home user as a stand alone server. All the tools of the trade are available to you but coming to the most effective business decision can be time consuming. Get a team of people together to have a round table discussion regarding what you need and what you don’t. Discuss possible scenarios and events that could happen to the computer responsible for uploading the file backups. Ensure that any software solution through a third party is the right decision for you.

Housing your own hardware has its advantages. You have complete customizability of your server and the location of where backups are uploaded. While on the other hand, removable storage may be a more effective solution for file structures with a smaller overall size. When it comes down to it, the choices you make regarding your file storage backup comes down to money. How much money do you have to allocate to file storage and backup solutions? The answer to this question will ultimately decide the quality that your spending efforts will produce

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