UK data centre and managed hosting services company iomart has today announced the opening of a new data centre facility in the heart of Nottingham. 

The purpose-built data centre facility, was purchased by iomart last year, and following an 8 month upgrade and commissioning programme, is now open for business.

iomart’s new facility offers approximately 410 square metres of fully resilient and highly secure data centre space. Recognising that power and environmental impact are currently key issues for data centre operations, the centre has been equipped with its own 1 Megawatt on site fully redundant power supply and the latest in energy efficient cooling systems.

The new cooling down flow units utilise seven per cent less power than the units they replace. Hot Gas Re-Heat (HGRH) technology also allows the data centre to maintain the room temperature by recycling heat expelled by the servers.

Angus MacSween, iomart’s Chief Executive Officer said: “The data centre industry is a voracious user of power and we’re serious about playing our part in reducing our impact on the environment, while leading the industry in our delivery of managed hosting services.”

“The opening of our Nottingham facility, our third in the UK, represents another significant step for us in achieving our aim of being recognised as the UK’s leading managed hosting and data centre services Company .“

Angus added: “Our 100 per cent business uptime guarantee is no idle boast. A complete ‘one source’ managed hosting service - from domain to data centre - is very different to what’s on offer from other competing hosting providers, who traditionally provide either pure colocation space and power or rely on third party data centres for their hosting offerings, which puts us in a very strong position in the market.”

This third facility, joining London and Glasgow, with a fourth in Leicester opening in two weeks, gives us a pan UK network enabling us to guarantee continuous uninterrupted service to our clients. This network provides businesses, whether based in Nottingham or not, with an excellent disaster recovery option.”

As part of its launch in Nottingham, iomart has sent 2500 oak tree saplings - capturing the Sherwood connection - to businesses in the city and surrounding areas, with planting instructions and details of the new data centre

Last week, iomart revealed in its annual report, that its data centre ownership had led to an increase of 17% in its managed hosting revenue growth. The company also stated that it has spent £3M on its data centre upgrade programme.

Renton, Washington - (The Hosting News) - January 31, 2008 - Server virtualization firm, Parallels (formerly SWsoft), has released its latest version of the container-based server virtualization software. Parallels Virtuozzo Containers Version 4.0, includes enhancements and features designed to improve usability, data center management and business continuity.

Parallels Virtuozzo Containers differs from traditional hardware virtualization solutions in that it dynamically partitions a single Windows or Linux operating system instance into highly efficient and scalable virtual environments or ”containers.”

Serguei Beloussov, CEO of Parallels noted, ”The ever-changing needs of today’s enterprise data centers call for a virtualization solution that is flexible and delivers high performance. With the release of Parallels Virtuozzo Containers 4.0, we are launching the next wave of virtualization, including a suite of products that help IT administrators effectively manage their growing virtual infrastructures.”

By delivering native server performance, Virtuozzo virtualization can be used with performance-sensitive workloads such as Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle databases that are not practical with other virtualization solutions due to their associated overhead and the performance penalties that are incurred.

Mr. Beloussov continued, ”Parallels offers the right technological approach coupled with the best economics to deliver a comprehensive suite of virtualization and automation products for any hardware or software environment.”

Also, Parallels Virtuozzo offers three times the density or more versus other solutions, which permits data center managers to maximize the number of virtual containers per each physical server. In fact, Virtuozzo is the only virtualization solution that enables dozens to hundreds of containers to immediately and automatically leverage hardware, resulting in exceptional data center efficiency from administrative, ROI and energy-consumption perspectives. Along with the increased density capabilities, IT administrators can reduce operating system sprawl in the data center by using Virtuozzo.

Robert Berry, Director of Technical Services, Homes and Land Magazine, noted, ”We were impressed by the Beta and are looking forward to implementing Virtuozzo 4.0. The new centralized management and networking options in the tools will make managing our virtualized data center even easier.”

John Humphreys, Program Vice President with IDC’s Enterprise Platform Group remarked, ”With the Virtuozzo product, Parallels is focused on taking virtualization to the next level. By virtualizing above the operating system, customers get both the benefits of hardware reduction and a reduction in the number of operating system images they need to run to support their applications.”

Diane Bryant, Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s Server Platforms Group commented, ”As virtualization continues to proliferate in data centers and on desktops, Intel is delivering leading platform capabilities and performance to foster the growth. Parallels Virtuozzo 4.0’s manageability tools, ease-of-use and reliability take advantage of the performance improvements with Intel’s latest generation of Quad Core Xeon and Itanium processors and make it a leading virtualization solution.”

Parallels Virtuozzo Containers 4.0 offers new features and functionality in several key areas:

- Business Continuity - Parallels Virtuozzo Containers 4.0 includes several new options to drive uptime, such as Windows Server 2003 and Red Hat clustering services. In addition, Parallels Virtuozzo Containers 4.0 delivers a comprehensive set of backup enhancements

- Ease of Use and Manageability - Version 4.0 extends the already significant resource management in Parallels Virtuozzo Containers with the inclusion of virtual CPU improvements, burstable CPU limits, hardware device forwarding, hardware device sharing and more

- Efficiency - Version 4.0’s architectural enhancements provide even higher levels of stability and performance. New efficiency-driving features include real-time optimization of hardware resources, and an improved Virtuozzo file system that speeds common management tasks and more effectively utilizes hard disk resources. More information about how customers are using Parallels Virtuozzo can be found at www.parallels.com/virtuozzo.

Virtuozzo 4.0 also introduces the Parallels Infrastructure Manager, a powerful tool for managing the Virtualized Data Center that enables IT administrators to efficiently manage their infrastructure from anywhere.

The Parallels Infrastructure Manager includes a number of important features such as:

- Enhanced Permissions - Includes role-based security and audit, Microsoft Active Directory support and LDAP integration.
- Newly Designed Management Tool - Easier assessment of resources and assets via powerful dashboards.
- Large Scale Deployment and Management Capabilities - Includes application and OS templates as well as centralized data center management, providing logical views of the data center.

Parallels Virtuozzo Containers 4.0 is available worldwide from Parallels or any of its partners. The product, including the Parallels Infrastructure Manager, is available for $3,000 per dual CPU. A Parallels Virtuozzo Containers license can be purchased without the Parallels Infrastructure Manager for $2,500 per dual CPU.

Parallels (formerly SWsoft) is a worldwide leader in virtualization and automation software that optimizes computing for consumers, businesses and service providers across all major hardware, operating system and virtualization platforms. Founded in 1999, Parallels is a fast-growing company with 900 employees in North America, Europe and Asia.

To learn more, please visit: www.parallels.com.

Fenton, Missouri - (Website Hosting Directory) - January 9, 2008 - Managed hosting and dedicated service provider Frontpages Web Hosting Network (FWHN), has partnered with data protection software company, Neverfail.

The joint venture is hoped to allow Frontpages to offer continuous availability and disaster recovery solutions to clients.

Rob LaMear, President of Frontpages noted, ”We have been looking for a product that meets the growing need for continuous application availability. Through our partnership with Neverfail, we can give our customers peace of mind that their employees, clients and partners will have seamless, uninterrupted access to critical business applications and data in the event of a failure.”

With Neverfail, Frontpages’ customers remain continuously connected to working applications, no matter where a failure occurs hardware, software, network or operating system. The affiliation will combine Frontpages’ customer service, market knowledge and technology expertise with Neverfail’s continuous availability, data protection and disaster recovery solutions. Neverfail protects the widest range of Windows-based applications including Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server, File Server and IIS, as well as RIM BlackBerry, IBM Lotus Domino and Captaris RightFax.Neverfail’s products can be implemented in physical and virtual environments and over a LAN or WAN, which offers businesses the ability to locate their secondary server in the next room or across the globe.

Dave French, CEO of Neverfail Americas remarked, ”Downtime is expensive, disruptive and becoming unacceptable. Frontpages is another example of a successful partner that has chosen Neverfail for our ability to provide immediate and non-disruptive failover and switchback over a LAN or WAN; keeping users continuously connected and productive. We are excited to have a reputable company such as Frontpages join our expanding list of successful partners, and look forward to combining our efforts to bring the benefits of our high availability solution to their customers.”

Frontpages Web Hosting Network is a leader in providing managed web hosting services for SharePoint, Exchange, CRM and dedicated server solutions to customers around the world. As one of the largest independent, U.S.-owned, managed hosting providers today, they serve companies ranging from the Fortune 500 to the SME (small and medium-enterprise) market.

Neverfail is a global software company providing affordable data protection, high availability, and disaster recovery solutions focused on keeping users productive. Neverfail’s software solutions enable users to remain continuously connected to the live software application irrespective of hardware, software, operating system, or network failures. Neverfail’s mission of eliminating application downtime for the end user delivers the assurance of business continuity, removes the commercial and IT management costs associated with system downtime and enables the more productive use of IT resources.

FWHN provides managed web hosting services for SharePoint, Exchange, CRM and dedicated server solutions to customers around the world. As one of the largest independent, U.S.-owned, managed hosting providers today, they serve companies ranging from the Fortune 500 to the SME (small and medium-enterprise) market.

For more information about Neverfail, please visit: www.neverfailgroup.com.

To learn more about FWHN, please visit: www.fpweb.net.

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida - (The Hosting News) - January 7, 2008 - Web hosting company specializing in small and medium business support, Hostopia, has developed and launched the release of its newest wireless mobility data synchronization application, SyncJe for Palm OS.

Developed by Nexthaus, Hostopia’s wireless mobility technology unit, the Palm OS client further extends Nexthaus’s line of SyncSuite applications that include SyncJe for Blackberry, iPhone, Outlook, Outlook Express, and Lotus Notes. SyncJe for Palm OS allows users to wirelessly synchronize data between their Palm OS devices, desktop or mobile computers, and Internet applications such as web-based email.

The application installs directly onto Palm OS devices, enabling centrally stored Personal Information Management (PIM) data to be exchanged wirelessly. Users can ‘’sync” contacts, calendars, notes and tasks free from any device cradles or wires and can even set an automatic synchronization scheduler. SyncJe is compatible with any SyncML server and comes with one year of maintenance and support.

Paul D. Engels, Chief Marketing Officer at Hostopia remarked, ”Businesses and consumers are increasingly demanding greater functionality and productivity from their email services and mobility devices. SyncJe for Palm OS helps link otherwise unconnected devices with the ease and power of wireless connectivity. Critical data to every user such as contacts and calendar entries can now update wherever you are, in real time.”

Hostopia will market the new service through three channels: direct retail at http://www.nexthaus.com, through Hostopia’s wholesale channel of leading global telecommunication and mobility service providers, and an all-new channel for Hostopia, Nexthaus Resellers. The introduction of the Nexthaus Reseller Program allows VARs, systems integrators and telecommunication/mobility services professionals to directly market SyncJe software from their websites and receive referral commissions from Nexthaus.

All Nexthaus Resellers get secure access to a reseller program administration interface allowing them to track their sales and program earnings. SyncJe products can be purchased individually for $29.95, or bundled with SyncJe for Outlook, for $59.95.

Dirk Bhagat, Chief Technology Officer at Hostopia added, ”SyncJe for Palm OS adds another significant component to our comprehensive line-up of data synchronization applications: Nexthaus SyncSuite. Full compatibility with Oracle’s Collaboration Suite has made these client applications very attractive to large enterprises. We believe that the ability to fully sync one’s PIM data across multiple devices and platforms at a low client software price represents compelling value to business people, or consumers, looking to get more from their mobility device. Combined with our other SyncJe clients for Blackberry, iPhone, and Microsoft Outlook/Outlook Express, we believe we now cover the most popular devices and email clients on the market.”

Hostopia is a provider of web services that enable small and medium-sized businesses to establish and maintain an Internet presence. The company’s customers are communication services providers, including telecommunication carriers, cable companies, Internet service providers, domain registrars, and web hosting service providers. Hostopia’s customers purchase web services on a wholesale basis and resell these services under their own brands to small- and medium-sized businesses. The company provides customers with the technology, infrastructure, and support services to enable them to offer web services, while saving them research and development as well as capital and operating costs typically associated with the design, development, and delivery of web services. Nexthaus, Hostopia’s wireless mobility technology unit, is a global leader in data and device synchronization and has developed industry-recognized SyncML solutions that feature wireless interoperability between PC’s, handheld devices and mobile phones.

For more information about Nexthaus, please visit: www.nexthaus.com.

To learn more about Hostopia, please visit: www.hostopia.com.

Aliso Viejo, California - (The Hosting News) - November 9, 2007 - Utility and grid computing solutions firm, 3Tera, Inc., has released the alpha version of a new concept in data center operations. Dynamic Appliances was developed to extend the firm’s simplification mandate of operations, so that elements can be configured for self-management.

Dynamic Appliances are packaged data center operations like backup, migration or SLAs that users can add to their applications to provide functionality. Unlike traditional data center management systems that require months to deploy and numerous system administrators to maintain, Dynamic Appliances allow data center operations to be easily and directly embedded into distributed applications simply by dragging and dropping them into the application, where the decision rules for operation are simplest to define and maintain. The application thereby gains the ability to perform that operation for itself, even when moved to another data center.

Peter Nickolov, President and CTO, 3Tera noted, ”Dynamic Appliances make complex data center operations like backups, SLAs, disaster recovery, that till now were performed only for mission critical applications, available and affordable to all applications. Because they are so easy to adopt and maintain by any AppLogic user, Dynamic Appliances provide a very efficient way to cut time consuming and expensive operations for many Web 2.0 or SaaS providers.”

Dynamic Appliances work by leveraging the ability of 3Tera’s AppLogic grid operating system to package distributed applications into manageable entities. For instance, the Backup Dynamic Appliance, which is used to backup an application to an offsite service, doesn’t require configuration with lists of files or firewall rules because it can simply issue commands to AppLogic to perform operations on entire distributed applications.

Bert Armijo, Senior Vice President, Sales and Product Management, 3Tera offered, ”One of the biggest advantages of utility computing is the reduction in labor required to deploy, maintain and scale applications. To accomplish this, we focus on driving manageability down into the applications, making them self-manageable. This is a very powerful way to deal with operations, because at the application level, most management issues are small and can be handled with just a few properties.”

3Tera’s Dynamic Appliances are now available as alpha release to all AppLogic users at no additional cost. Initially Backup and Migration Dynamic Appliances be available. The SLA, Disaster Recovery, Patch Management and Power Saver appliances will be rolled out during the alpha. Prospective users can find more information at www.3tera.com/dynamic-appliances.html.

Earlier this year, 3Tera’s new AppLogic 2.1 release, was developed to add Application Monitoring and Multi-CPU scalability to the commercial platform designed to enable true utility computing for SaaS and Web 2.0 companies. The availability of the new application, was announced at the Office 2.0 Conference in San Francisco, California. The new 2.1 release of the AppLogic grid operating system endeavors to provide greater scalability, improved resource utilization, visibility and control over application performance.

3Tera, Inc. is a grid and utility computing firm for the deployment and scaling of web applications. Named a 2007 Category Breaker by NetworkWorld magazine, 3Tera’s AppLogic grid operating system enables the first true utility computing services that completely remove the cost and complexity associated with infrastructure. The operating system converts commodity servers into scalable grids on which users can visually operate deploy and scale transactional web applications without any modification of code. Software-as-a-Service providers, Web 2.0 companies, enterprises and open source developers may obtain new online services, to market by utilizing resources from commodity hosting providers on a pay-as-you-go basis, while maintaining complete control of applications including visual operation, scaling and on-demand resource provisioning using only a browser.

For more information about 3Tera, please visit: www.3tera.com.

Frontpages Web Hosting Network (FWHN) Datacenter  SAS 70 Type II Certification

Managed hosting and dedicated service provider Frontpages Web Hosting Network (www.fpweb.net) announced today that their datacenter achieved SAS 70 Type II certification from a third-party auditing firm.

The auditor closely reviewed numerous processes and controls relating to logical and physical access, security of environment and information, backup/recovery, secure storage and other such operations.  As one of the highest industry-accepted auditing standards for service companies, SAS 70 certification provides customers with guaranteed security and reliability for their managed systems.

FWHN’s data center is a world class facility, situated on a dual utility power grid.  The state of the art facility includes biometric security, redundancy in all critical systems, on-site Network Operations Centers (NOCs) and qualified engineers 24/7/365.  “It has always been our goal to provide a fast, secure, reliable data center,” said Rob LaMear, President FWHN, “but this certification proves that our data center is backed by internal controls that meet the superior standards needed by our federal and compliance regulated customers.”

FWHN is a leader in providing managed web hosting services for SharePoint, Exchange, CRM and dedicated server solutions to customers around the world.  As one of the largest independent, U.S.-owned, managed hosting providers today, they serve companies ranging from the Fortune 500 to the SME (small and medium-enterprise) market.

Chicago, Illinois - (Cheap Web Hosting Directory) - October 12, 2007 - Web hosting provider, Single Hop, Inc., has expanded into its new Chicago data center, having outgrown the current facility in less than a year.

SingleHop is moving to a South Loop facility from 600 S. Federal Street and will be expanding from 30 to 100 server cabinets housed in 5,000 square feet of operations space. This 24/7 state of the art facility features redundant UPS and HVAC systems and is literally located across the street from its power source.

Zak Boca, President and Founder of SingleHop noted, ”It was important for us to address our draw on the local power grid, so this datacenter features our newly designed servers that operate 30% more efficiently than the industry standard. Couple this with our close proximity to the local power source and we’ve really minimized our potential power draw.”

SingleHop follows this move with a significant new incentive program that will dramatically affect their current and future client base.

SingleHop, Inc., is a full service managed dedicated hosting provider that was founded by Zak Boca, who along with Dan Ushman started midPhase Services, Inc., a shared web managed hosting company that services over 75,000 websites. SingleHop and midPhase maintain entirely separate support teams and operations; however, customers are able to take advantage of the combined buying power of midPhase, which results in an overall savings on top of the line hardware, and bandwidth. The cornerstone of SingleHop managed hosting is the a la Carte Server Management Program, which is a full-array of transparent management services that were designed, and tested to allow business customers to tailor their level of support to their needs or expertise. The model was tested on midPhase’s dedicated client base of over 500 servers, and it was decided to create SingleHop, a managed dedicated hosting company that would focus entirely on managed services via the la Carte Server Management Program.

To learn more, please visit: www.singlehop.com.

Napa, California - (The Hosting News) - September 7, 2007 - Server virtualization company, SWsoft, has chosen ScanAlert, for its Hacker Safe certification and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) validation services, for delivery to web hosting clients and e-commerce merchants.

The SWsoft Virtuozzo operating system virtualization software uses patented technology to create multiple, isolated virtual environments - or virtual private servers - on a single physical server and operating system, making the most efficient use of hardware, software and other resources. Each virtual environment has the same performance and functionality as a stand-alone server.

Under the agreement, ScanAlert will provide hosting service providers using the SWsoft Plesk control panel the ability to offer their customers complimentary services to validate PCI DSS compliance for merchants, as well as discounted services to certify them to the HACKER SAFE standard.

”Kurt Daniel, Vice President of Marketing and Alliances at SWsoft remarked, ”By partnering with SWsoft, ScanAlert can deliver greater security and peace of mind to Plesk-based service providers and their customers. This is another good example of how our OPEN FUSION integration and partnership initiative is helping to deliver value to website owners, while helping service providers create new revenue streams.”

Michael Ayers, Manager of Channel Sales at ScanAlert added, ”As the leading automation and virtualization provider to the hosting industry, SWsoft is a logical partner for ScanAlert. Working with SWsoft, we will help make hosts and end-user merchants more secure, meet their compliance obligations, and increase online transactions.”

ScanAlert’s PCI DSS Service provides e-commerce merchants with the necessary tools for PCI DSS standard validation, including unlimited security scans, an interactive self-assessment questionnaire, and extensive online/telephone/email technical support. Using its patent pending technology, ScanAlert conducts daily security audits to certify clients to the HACKER SAFE standard. Websites meeting the standard can then promote their certified security to site visitors by placing the HACKER SAFE certification trustmark on their sites. As long as the standard is met, ScanAlert continues to serve a date-stamped image from its network to the site.

SWsoft customers interested in ScanAlert’s PCI DSS and HACKER SAFE certification services should contact SWsoft directly at scanalert@swsoft.com, for details on availability, pricing and sign-up procedures.

Some of the ways that SWsoft may realize the green potential of virtualization with Virtuozzo, include:

• ServInt Internet Services (www.servint.net), a leading hosting company based in the United States, estimates that their green efforts have produced a savings of as much as 85 percent in electricity usage for every hosted customer that transitions from a single physical server to a virtual server.

• Host Europe (www.hosteurope.de), a large hosting company based in Germany, estimates that their virtualized hosting customers use 63 percent less electric power.

• ikoula (www.ikoula.com), a hosting company based in France, estimates they can save as much as 60 percent on electricity by moving customers from dedicated to virtualized servers. The reduced power consumption also means delaying additional infrastructure investment to provide more power or space.

SWsoft is a global virtualization and automation software firm that helps consumers, businesses, and service providers optimize their use of technology. The SWsoft product line includes Virtuozzo - the leading operating system virtualization solution, Parallels - the leading desktop virtualization product, and Plesk - the leading server control panel. Founded in 1999, the company has offices throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

ScanAlert secures organizations of all sizes against threats to their network infrastructure and then certifies them to the HACKER SAFE standard — the world’s Internet security benchmark. Offered as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, HACKER SAFE technology protects more than 250,000 websites in over 70 countries worldwide. The trustmark is displayed on websites including ESPN, The American Red Cross, Toshiba, Sony Music Store and Warner Brothers, along with the majority of the 500 largest online retailers in the USA. ScanAlert also operates HACKER SAFE Labs, the security industry’s only research group focused on ecommerce application security.

For more information on ScanAlert, please visit: www.scanalert.com.

To learn more about SWsoft, please visit: www.swsoft.com.

Houston, Texas - (The Hosting News) - September 5, 2007 - Privately held dedicated web hosting company, The Planet, has debuted its new Dedicated Backup Server, equipped with R1Soft’s full-featured CDPServer continuous data protection software, including three storage options — 500 GB, 1TB or 1.5TB, with introductory pricing through September.

The backup solution offers a small to large business solution with mission-critical, intense data storage needs. With unique delegated administration functionality provided on The Planet’s Dedicated Backup Servers, the new R1Soft solution is ideal for resellers who need backup capacity for their clients. In addition, there is no limit to the number of clients backed up for any of the three offerings.

Urvish Vashi, Director of Product Management at The Planet remarked, ”It takes a single data-loss incident to learn a hard business lesson about the value of backup solutions. Many small businesses never recover financially or restore their reputations after data is lost or compromised. By providing enterprise-grade backup at prices affordable for SMBs and resellers, The Planet eliminates the high-stakes probability of a devastating data loss that customers should clearly consider.”

The Planet’s Dedicated Backup Server delivers bare-metal recovery that allows customers to recover servers to their original known state. CDP provides a near-continuous snapshot of customer data, with the ability to rollback to the last data snapshot to minimize loss.

David Wartell, Founder and CEO of R1Soft added, ”At R1Soft, we designed our backup so that it minimizes bandwidth and CPU cycles to save overhead and disk space on busy servers. Customers can schedule backup several times an hour even on busy servers, with near-continuous online backups, compression and end-to-end strong encryption. These affordable prices offer every reason that now’s the right time to select a new backup solution.”

Dedicated Backup Server - Available in three configurations, The Planet’s Dedicated Backup Server provides the optimal price performance mix for a wide range of backup requirements:

• 500MB Dedicated Backup Server: Priced at $279/month, this server provides 3 250GB hard drives, RAID5, 1.5 TB of bandwidth and R1Soft CDPServer Backup Software with unlimited licenses
• 1TB Dedicated Backup Server: Introductory pricing at $309/month. Provides 3 500GB hard drives, RAID5, 2.5 TB of bandwidth, and R1Soft CDPServer Backup Software with unlimited licenses
• 1.5TB Dedicated Backup Server: Introductory pricing at $399/month. Provides 3 - 750GB hard drives, RAID5, 4 TB of bandwidth, R1Soft CDPServer Backup Software with unlimited licenses

The Planet’s hosted Microsoft SBS solutions provide customers with the following features for IT infrastructure:

• All-in-one practical solution: With a complete SMB IT portfolio-in-a-box, customers gain immediate access to Microsoft Exchange Server, Outlook, SharePoint Server and SQL Server, bundled with anti-virus and spam protection, and a comprehensive data backup service.
• Low upfront investment and predictable monthly costs: Customers can control their costs and reduce capital costs, which frees funds to grow their businesses. Using The Planet’s world-class data centers, there’s no need to purchase hardware, software and networking equipment, and no requirement to hire additional support staff.
• Anytime, anywhere access: Using any PC, customers can connect to critical e-mail, calendar and contact information through the Internet.
• Always up and running: All hosted Microsoft SBS servers are backed by an ironclad SLA that guarantees continuous availability.
• Dedicated infrastructure provides security and customizable solutions: With a dedicated hosted SBS server, critical e-mail and business data are stored on a system that’s not shared with other companies. Users can configure and customize solutions to meet their unique business needs, all managed by their trusted IT advisor and integrator.
• Do more with less: Using Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint technologies enables customers to share e-mail, calendar contact information and critical documents, improve productivity and reduce costs.

The Planet’s network is designed without single points of failure, which means the network operates with full redundancy for its core routers and distribution switches. The company also offers carrier diversity, with connections to seven Tier-1 telecommunications providers. As a result, customers never face obstacles or suffer from poor peering connections, sub-optimal routing paths, or congested or oversold networks that limit the power, speed and availability of their sites.

Ultimately, The Planet endeavors to provide the following:

• High level of network capacity and speed to deliver peak performance
• Instant scalability to handle even the largest spikes in network traffic
• Parallel, redundant, multi-tiered network routing and switching architecture to assure reliability and stability
• Multiple layer network security that prevents Delayed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks from harming businesses
• Knowledgeable experts with a passion for excellence and a commitment to operate the best networks in the business

The Planet is a leading provider of On Demand IT Infrastructure solutions, hosting more than 22,000 small and medium size businesses and 2.8 million web sites worldwide, using the best choice of servers, software tools and support, backed by state-of-the-art facilities and network connectivity.

To learn more about The Planet, please visit: www.theplanet.com.

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San Francisco, California - (The Hosting News) - July 27, 2007 - Managed hosting and colocation company, Hosting.com, managed to avoid problems associated with the widespread power outage affecting the San Francisco area recently. Hosting.com’s San Francisco data center located at 630 Third Street, remained fully operational and online throughout the duration of the outage.

Early estimates by PG and E put 30,000 - 50,000 customers without power during this event, many of which were businesses whose operations are completely dependent on power, such as PG and E itself and area data center providers in the downtown San Francisco area.

Darren King, President and CEO of Hosting.com remarked, ”While it’s unfortunate that the downtown San Francisco area was hit with a massive power outage, we couldn’t be more pleased with the way our facility withstood the test. As a result of our redundant infrastructure and thorough testing and maintenance of that infrastructure by seasoned data center experts, we are happy to report that not a single Hosting.com San Francisco colo client within the data center was affected.”

Hosting.com management plans to fully analyze and evaluate this event and all published reports over the next few days to further prepare for and take any additional steps necessary to ensure that all clients continue to remain unaffected by future power outages. Management believes the recent instability of the power grid in San Francisco will have no impact on the construction plans currently underway that will double the size of Hosting.com’s San Francisco facility and provide its clients with collocation suites up to 3,000 sq. ft. to house their mission critical infrastructure.

Since 1996, Hosting.com has provided managed hosting, colocation, disaster recovery and business continuance services to a global customer with a high level of security, reliability and responsiveness. Hosting.com monitors, manages, and enhances the web-based platforms of Web 2.0 companies, software as a service providers (SaaS), content distribution networks (CDN), and medium to large enterprises whose web presence is crucial and high availability mandatory. Hosting.com currently owns and operates its proprietary content delivery grid (CDG) via data center facilities in Louisville, Kentucky; Irvine, California; San Francisco, California; and Boston, Massachusetts. For more information, please call 800-446-7627.

For more information about Hosting.com, please visit: www.hosting.com.

Bucharest, Romania - (The Hosting News) - July 17, 2007 - Rack-Soft redesigned and rebranded the 4PSA VoIP hosting service control panel website, to include several new areas: Internet Presence and Client Areas, redefined Partnership Programs, and an updated Knowledge Base section.

The new 4PSA.COM website was designed to provide Rack-Soft’s growing customer base with better access to resources and information. The 4PSA Clients Area was improved to minimize the time spent by customers and partners on administrative tasks. With the new translators’ collaboration area, 4PSA users may contribute with language pack translations while sharing knowledge and having access to the localized 4PSA software. The 4PSA Partnership Programs were reorganized to better express Rack-Soft’s development and the increased partnership opportunities.

Frank Reilly, Customer Service Manager at Rack-Soft remarked, ”Building strong partnerships is a key element of our vision and a long-term commitment to improve the way we reach our customers. 4PSA Partnership Programs provide full access to our software, professional services, technical support, training, and marketing resources.”

The new tagline, ”Providing Server Solutions” was chosen, since it better reflects the company’s intention to provide automation and optimization for the IT business processes. Since companies want the fastest and most efficient way to deliver network services to their clients, Rack-Soft specializes in building solutions, serving the customer, writing software, and delivering lifecycle support.

Upon completing the re-branding process, Rack-Soft takes the opportunity to offer an important discount for all 4PSA software products. Mr. Reilly added, ”We must celebrate this event together with our clients; after all, the new website was build for them.” More details about the 4PSA re-branding promotion are available online at the company website.

Rack-Soft is an established developer and integrator of software solutions for the server market, utilized by ISP, HSP, small and medium businesses. Rack-Soft products are developed to simplify server management, data center administration, and voice communications. Rack-Soft implements CMM (Capability Maturity Model) in order to maximize software reliability.

To learn more, please visit: www.rack-soft.ro.

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Toronto, Canada - (The Hosting News) - July 16, 2007 - Web hosting provider for small to medium-sized businesses (SMB), Netfirms, has officially debuted the launch of its green energy saving program. Netfirms Green was created to demonstrate a commitment to reduce the company’s environmental consumption, by conserving energy in its data centers and corporate offices.

The company is in the final stages of migrating their clustered server architecture and data center operations to a direct current power source using Rackable Systems (NASDAQ:RACK) patented DC power technology. The technology has already reduced Netfirms data center power consumption by 25%. By end of 2007, they plan to reduce power usage in data centers by 45%.

Giovanni Coglitore, Chief Technology Officer of Rackable Systems remarked, ”Our proven DC Power technology has the potential to significantly reduce power consumption and increase server reliability. DC power gives technology companies like Netfirms the opportunity to actively help our environment by reducing energy usage and decreasing the amount of heat produced in large-scale data centers while maintaining their competitive edge.”

Jason Matheson, Product Manager at Netfirms added, ”DC power is the most viable method of reducing our environmental footprint. It sees more direct results than purchasing renewable energy credits.”

As part of the Netfirms Green program, the company has also reduced energy consumption in their offices. The corporate office is a Certified Go Green Building by the national BOMA Go Green Environmental Certification program. They have reduced energy consumption by minimizing decorative lighting and raising the air temperature in their buildings.

Netfirms has always been environmentally responsible by participating in recycling programs and using environmentally sustainable resources and practices in our day to day operations. This new green program simply reinforces our ongoing commitment to the environment.”

Netfirms, Inc., founded in 1998, is a provider of web hosting solutions and technology to small and medium-sized businesses, home office, entrepreneurs and individuals worldwide. Netfirms hosts over 1,200,000 websites, delivering trust, quality, and reliability each and every day. Netfirms operates offices in the U.S. and Canada.

For more information about the Netfirms Green program, please visit: www.netfirms.com/company/green.

To learn more about Rackable Systems, please visit: www.rackable.com.

To learn more about BOMA Go Green, please visit: www.bomagogreen.com.

To learn more about Netfirms, please visit: www.netfirms.com.