Interviews & PR

iPhone (iBrick) Web Hosting available shortly

Customized Apple iPhones were rendered useless after the latest update to the iPhone software was applied. Apple has pulled the plug on modified iPhones that had allowed users to install 3rd party applications or even use the phone on a different carrier network. The uproar in the Apple community has been strong and people are upset. The word of the iBrick made its round on the entire Internet. But whenever something “bad” happens, there is an opportunity for something good. The Web Hosting Resource Kit is proud to let the word out first. Our connections to the web hosting industry lead to an interesting discussion over the last weekend which resulted in the following ‘news leakage’ to us. Hang on for something really revolutionary that will rock the cell phone world as well as the web hosting world:

A new to be formed web hosting company (iBrick Hosting, LLC / iBrickhosting.com) has developed a proprietary software that turns a “useless” iPhone into a mini web server running Linux (Ubuntu Server) and a control panel similar to cpanel. According to Jack Dobbs of iBrick Hosting, LLC they have developed a technology that allows to run a stripped down version of Linux including cpanel on an Apple iPhone and providing enough resources to host up to 3 domain accounts per “iPhone server”. The company has tested the technology and found it sufficient enough to target the low-end market with customers running personal websites or small business websites. iBrick Hosting, LLC has also developed a tablet-style rack rail kit set (2U) that allows to stack the iPhone mini servers behind each other. The dimensions of the iPhone allow iBrick Hosting, LLC to place 4 rows with 60 iPhones each per 2U rack space. 240 iPhones in a 2U rack space allows to approximately host over 700 website accounts while saving significantly on server hardware, data center cooling and power consumption. Network connectivity uses the wireless capabilities of the iPhone. iBrick Hosting, LLC has already acquired 5,000+ iPhones and will open their website to take orders in the next week or so.

 

iBrick Hosting, LLC plans to launch a large iPhone acquisition marketing campaign that offers disappointed iPhone users a great deal to trade in their phone. Several options are planned – including the offer to buy a smart phone from a different provider or network carrier. iBrick Hosting, LLC is a division of a large web hosting company based out of California and it will utilize an existing data center and uplink carriers. iBrick Hosting, LLC is also experimenting in clustering iPhones and to place a low end server in front of such a cluster. This allows to use the available hard drive space of an iPhone more sufficient and to bypass the memory and CPU restrictions of an iPhone.

This is as much news as we were able to squeeze out of our contact. It sure sounds exciting and different. Different is good in our opinion as that separates one web hosting business from all the other ones. We are looking forward to hear and see more about what iBrick Hosting, LLC is able to accomplish with their iPhone Web Hosting. It will be interesting to see the actual performance of these iPhone mini web servers. The iBrick Hosting domain is still down for us at the moment, but a WHOIS lookup shows the domain being registered.

Copyright 2007 – Webhostingresourcekit.com
iPhone is a registered Trademark of Apple Inc.

Press Release: The Planet Debuts Network Video Tour

 Provides Insider’s View into the Company’s World-Class Data Centers in Houston and Dallas

 HOUSTON, July 2, 2007 – The Planet, the world’s largest privately held dedicated hosting company, today launched an online video that features a virtual tour of its sophisticated network.  Supporting 22,000 customers and more than 45,000 servers, the network video follows its previous virtual tour of the company’s six world-class data centers in Houston and Dallas.

The Planet’s network delivers unsurpassed network capacity and speed with instant scalability; a parallel, redundant, multi-tiered network routing and switching architecture; along with multi-layer security that guards against evolving Internet threats.  Operating at 100 gigabits per second, the network eliminates traffic jams and roadblocks, providing customers with high-volume, instantaneous responses for their Web hosting services. 

“Small and medium-sized companies juggle managing their businesses with the requisite demands of building IT systems to support their operations,” Steve Kahan, vice president of marketing and product management for The Planet.  “Rather than debate which hardware, software, bandwidth or applications they need, The Planet offers an entire range of solutions, expressly tailored to meet each customer’s specific requirements.  Whether it’s e-commerce, streaming media or a robust, content-rich site, we eliminate the expensive, time-consuming requirements of building an IT infrastructure.  The Planet is the competitive equalizer that allows SMBs to go head-to-head on an even playing field with their bigger, better-funded competition.”

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.

 

The Planet Network – A Competitive Business Advantage

Ultimately, The Planet provides distinct benefits for companies looking for world-class quality and reliability:

·        Unsurpassed 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

 

To view the complete video, please click on the “Take the Tour” button at http://www.theplanet.com/.

 

About The Planet

The Planet is the 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.  By offering the best choice of servers, software tools and world-class support, backed by state-of-the-art facilities and unmatched network connectivity, The Planet helps turn information technology into a powerful competitive advantage that enables customers to successfully grow their businesses.  For additional information, visit www.theplanet.com.

The Planet Appoints Executive to Lead Information Technology and Operations

HOUSTON, June 4, 2007 – The Planet, the world’s largest privately held dedicated hosting company, today announced the appointment of Steve Reichert as vice president, information technology and operations.  Reichert, who reports to Chairman and CEO Douglas J. Erwin, will be responsible for IT software development and infrastructure, overall management and operations of the company’s six world-class data centers and its Global Network Operations Center (GNOC). 

Reporting to Reichert are the IT development and support organizations, the company’s data center city managers in Houston and Dallas, and its GNOC management team.  Reichert will work from the company’s Dallas operation.

“Steve Reichert’s experience in managing enterprise-level data centers and the supporting information technology infrastructure brings exceptional new capabilities to our executive team,” said Erwin.  “His knowledge of software development, customer requirements and data center operations enables The Planet to continue expanding its data center footprint to deliver additional products and services for our growing customer base.” 

Reichert joins The Planet from InfoCrossing, where he was vice president of client services.  Prior to the acquisition of iStructure, a Level3 Communications company, by InfoCrossing, Reichert served as vice president for service delivery and data center operations.  He worked directly with customers across multiple lines of business, where he held responsibilities for operational data center support.  The infrastructure included mainframe and mid-range systems, as well as servers, storage and networks, and the associated operating systems and respective applications.

Reichert served also as vice president and chief information officer with Allied Riser Communications and Pagenet.  Additional experience includes seven years with Sprint Corporation where he worked in corporate IT management. 

Reichert earned a B.S. degree in Management Science and Computer Systems from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. 

About The Planet
The Planet is the 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.  By offering the best choice of servers, software tools, and world-class support, backed by state-of-the-art facilities and unmatched network connectivity, The Planet helps turn information technology into a powerful competitive advantage that enables customers to successfully grow their businesses.  For additional information, visit http://www.theplanet.com

Interview with Amy of Lunarpages Web Hosting

Not too long I had the chance to talk to Amy Armitage of Lunarpages.com (http://www.lunarpages.com). Amy was willing to let me interview her and I threw quite heavy loaded questions at here. I guess there is a reason why Amy and Lunarpages are market leading in web hosting. The interview is giving a great insight into how Lunarpages operates and what makes them so special compared to other web hosting companies. But before I talk to much about this, here is the interview.

1) What made you work in the web hosting industry (money, technology, always compete, etc.)?

It was accidental really.  I guess in about 1998 I wanted to learn how to build a site from my home in Australia so I searched for free web hosting and found Lunarpages.  Signed up for my free account and started asking a LOT of questions on lunarforums.com.  After a while I became a regular on the forums and developed my skill set, started helping other customers and the owner of Lunarpages Ron Riddle asked me to manage the forums.  From there it evolved into working support on the help desk and around 18 months ago I moved to California to work in Business Development.

2) Lunarpages seems to be a very successful company in a highly competitive market. What separates you from your competitors and how are you (Lunarpages) staying ahead of the pack?

You have to look for the honesty and personal attention behind the fads and gimmicks. At Lunarpages, we pretty much shy away from gimmicks, because we know that’s not how you keep customers. Once you’re part of our customer base, you’re family, so we try to keep everything as personal as possible. We’ll chat with you via email or the phones, we make our Control Panel easy to use, and then we throw as many incredible tools at you as possible. But it is hard trying to figure out who’s bluffing and who has the resources to pull off the offers. Check out forum reviews, and if your host doesn’t have a forum, that’s already a problem.

3) If you would have to start over, would you still enter the web hosting industry?  What would you do different?

Hmmmm.. that’s a loaded question.  I think it depends on my day 😉  Mostly, I love web hosting, but lately it’s really challenging because this industry is SOOOOOO competitive.  If I was starting over then Lunarpages would be my choice without question.  I’ve never worked for such a professional, innovative and supportive CEO such as Ron Riddle.  He makes the business fun for me and I’m very proud of the company we have all helped to create.

4) What advice can you give potential customers in regards to what to look for in a web hosting provider?

It can be really overwhelming when choosing a new host. I’d recommend coming up with a list of your requirements and budget and then start researching and narrow down your list to maybe 5 hosts you like.

Call them and ask a bunch of questions. Focus on some important factors such as:

Disc space requirements – Amount of space on a web server’s hard drive that you will need for your web site .i.e. size of your web site

Expected Traffic – How many visitors are you expecting? Will this be a high traffic website? Even though right now it isn’t, what if your sites get super busy. Does your host have upgrade options?

Multiple Sites – Can you run several unique sites on one hosting plan?

Databases, email, FTP accounts etc – What are the limits?

Considerations – The Techy Stuff

• OS
• Hardware (Do they own their own servers?)
• Security (Are they a couple of kids in their garage?)
• Location (What country are their servers in?)
• Backups (Are there daily backups? Is there a cost?)
• Redundancy (Multiple data centers?)
• Uptime (Check out their uptime stats)
• Connectivity
• Download Speed
• Supported Scripting Languages (Do they support PHP5 or ASP/JSP – whatever your site is or could eventually be coded in?)

The Other Stuff

• Price (Money Back Guarantee)
• Support Options (Do they speak English and offer 24/7 support Inc phone support?)
• Value (What do you get for your money?)
• Uptime Guarantee & History – How long have they been in business? WHOIS them)
• Reputation
• Reviews
• Upgrade/Downgrade Options
• Overages (Are you charged for use you’re unaware of?)
• Control and Usability

Domain names – Free with hosting but do you own the domain? How much will it cost you to take ownership of the domain if you want to transfer out?

Hosting Price – Search for discount coupons, but be aware of the renewal fee when you don’t have a coupon for the 2nd year.

Accuracy of support – Test them with some hard questions

Review sites – Careful of the hype. Lots of them simply get paid top dollar to promote certain companies. Make sure you have a money back guarantee.

There are loads more but this should be a good starting point.

5) Web Hosting prices are at a (historic) low and can only be lowered so much before hitting zero. Where do you see the industry heading to? What is the future of web hosting?

I see the big companies burying the smaller companies with offers they cannot compete with.  I hope to see the bandwidth and space allocations level out and become realistic again. 

6) Lunarpages has a solid reputation when it comes to support? What are the "ingredients" to build a successful support team?

A phone system that can support a high volume of calls and customer growth

A helpdesk that’s fast, functional and simple and can handle a high level of tickets.  We receive around 30k tickets per month.

Training, manuals, procedures, structure and audits of your staff!  Keeping up to date with new technology and making sure your staff are aware of new offerings and hosting options/features.

Listening to your customers and talking to them in non techy terms so they can learn and understand from you.

Communication!!

7) Women are still a "minority" in the hosting industry. If you would be asked for advice about working in the hosting industry by a class of female college students – what would that advice be?

We have a strong female team at Lunarpages so I don’t necessarily agree we are a minority.  I believe anyone’s success isn’t based on gender but on work ethic, commitment and willingness to learn and step up.  We have many men at LP in similar roles, again based on their experience and skills and dedication.

I think it’s also important to note that within our workplace, promotions and acknowledgements are awarded because of your work through an unbiased process that isn’t based on gender.  I.e. Lunarpages is a chick friendly company and we are slowly taking over the place 😉

8) Do you see virtualization to play a large role in the web hosting business?

I do think that in the future virtualization will be a more prominent management solution at the very least. Because a virtual machine would be entirely isolated from its host, as well as the rest of the machines that make up the pack, if one virtual box crashes and burns, the others will not follow suit. This means that we could practically eliminate any kind of planned downtime required to take care of system administration and general maintenance tasks, which would really benefit our customers! Our downtime is already miniscule, but any kind of further guarantee couldn’t hurt. 😉

9) Last question: Pepsi or Coke? Diet or Regular?

I rarely drink soda but if I do it is regular coke only in a glass, on loads of ice 😉  If we’re talking coffee then I have 2 x quad venti white chocolate mochas, with 2 add shots in each … every day!  That’s 8 shots of coffee not including the huge cup I have when I wake up at 5am every day.

Thanks to Amy for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer these questions. The Web Hosting Resource Kit wishes you and Lunarpages all the best for the future. Here is the website for this great web hosting business.

Press Release: The Planet Offers 72-Hour Free Setup on All Servers

 HOUSTON, May 22, 2007 – The Planet, now the world’s largest privately held dedicated hosting company, today announced a free setup promotion on all servers for just 72 hours.  Starting at noon CDT on Tuesday, May 22, through noon CDT on Friday, May 25, 2007, setup fees on all new-server orders will be waived.

The free setup fee covers The Planet’s entire range of servers, from the economy level Dell Conroe 3040 to the performance-level Dell Clovertown 2900.

“Technology investments are evaluated consistently across the board in any organization, whether it’s a $69 or $1,100 purchase,” said The Planet’s Director of Product Management Urvish Vashi.  “By offering free setup across our server portfolio, we’re delivering powerful server technology that provides an added cost savings, which is especially beneficial to customers who order multiple servers.”

The Planet is also offering a 50 percent discount on all hard drive upgrades with any new server order. For more information on all the promotions, please visit: http://www.theplanet.com/promotions/.

          

About The Planet

The Planet is the 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.  By offering the best choice of servers, software tools and world-class support, backed by state-of-the-art facilities and unmatched network connectivity, The Planet helps turn information technology into a powerful competitive advantage that enables customers to successfully grow their businesses.  For additional information, visit www.theplanet.com.

The Planet Adds Enterprise-Class Storage to Private Rack Portfolio

Provides access to highly scalable, high-performance disk storage

HOUSTON, May 21, 2007 — The Planet, the world’s largest dedicated hosting provider, today expanded its private rack portfolio with the addition of storage area network (SAN) capabilities.  The new storage solution from Network Appliance (NASDAQ: NTAP) provides The Planet’s customers with maximum data availability and protection, particularly for those whose businesses require critical online data repositories, including databases, media libraries, backup archives and e-mail.

Today’s announcement follows the company’s recent addition of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) 5500 Series Firewalls and Foundry ServerIronXL load balancers to its comprehensive private rack portfolio.  For Web 2.0 companies and SaaS providers that operate complex hosting environments, the new products add enterprise-class capabilities and enhancements at attractive, self-managed pricing.  
NetApp® FAS systems are the industry’s broadest family of compatible storage systems, offering unmatched business agility, superior application uptime and simplicity of management.  By coupling high-performance storage with unique data management software, NetApp delivers increased availability of critical data and simplification of complex data management environments. In addition, these high-performance systems have a proven ability to continuously serve data at higher than 99.99% availability. With NetApp storage systems, customers can gain access to predictive technology that alerts the customer, The Planet, and NetApp to an impending support need. The combination of NetApp SyncMirror® software and RAID-DP™ technology provides maximum subsystem fault tolerance that exceeds most industry solutions, but with similar cost overhead and read-performance benefits.

“With the proliferation of e-commerce and e-mail, the data needs of our customers continue to explode,” said The Planet’s Vice President of Marketing and Product Management Steve Kahan.  “Our new storage options enable customers to gain the same enterprise capabilities usually available only to larger organizations.  As a result, they are able to make faster decisions, better serve their own customers and continue to grow their businesses without the worry of IT management.  For those who have outgrown the storage provided by local hard disks, the new NetApp storage solutions provide a powerful, affordable option.”
“Reliability, scalability and simplified management are hallmarks of NetApp storage solutions,” said Patrick Rogers, vice president of Solutions Marketing at Network Appliance.  “Customers want solutions that do not compromise their data or application availability.  NetApp systems allow customers to confidently expand storage requirements within The Planet’s private racks in a cost-effective manner.”

About The Planet’s New Private Rack Storage
The Planet’s new high-performance, highly scalable storage product adds additional options specifically geared to deliver exceptional value: 
Speedy, Reliable Access:  NetApp FAS storage operates faster than data stored on local disks, offering high throughput and fast response times that are required for transaction processing, database and technical applications.
Easily Scalable:  The non-disruptive capacity expansion can be easily configured, managed and maintained.  When additional storage is required, NetApp offers non-disruptive capacity expansion.
Fault-Tolerant Performance:  With predictive technology that sends notices of an impending failure, warnings are sent to customers, The Planet and to its own automated systems. 

About The Planet
The Planet is the 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.  By offering the best choice of servers, software tools and world-class support, backed by state-of-the-art facilities and unmatched network connectivity, The Planet helps turn information technology into a powerful competitive advantage that enables customers to successfully grow their businesses.  For additional information, visit www.theplanet.com.
 
About Network Appliance
Network Appliance is a world leader in unified storage solutions for today’s data-intensive enterprise. Since its inception in 1992, Network Appliance has delivered technology, product, and partner firsts that simplify data management. Information about Network Appliance™ solutions and services is available at www.netapp.com.

NetApp, the Network Appliance logo, and SyncMirror are registered trademarks and Network Appliance and RAID-DP are trademarks of Network Appliance, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such.

Press Release: The Planet Appoints General Manager to Lead New Microsoft Business Unit

HOUSTON, April 30, 2007 – The Planet, the world’s largest privately held dedicated hosting company, today announced the appointment of Cody Menard as general manager of its newly formed Microsoft business unit.  Menard reports to Vice President of Marketing Steve Kahan.
In this role, Menard will manage the recently formed business unit, developing new solutions designed specifically around Microsoft and Windows environments.  The company plans additional announcements around new products and services this summer.
           
“Cody Menard brings deep experience with Microsoft and its Windows Division, and he’ll serve as a critical resource in developing our solutions for Microsoft-based environments,” said Kahan.  “As we continue to diversify our product portfolio to meet the fluid demands of our global customer base, his extensive technology background and ability to build solutions from the ground up will be critical to the successful delivery of our future offerings.”

Prior to joining The Planet, Menard served as a group program manager in Microsoft’s Windows Division, where he was responsible for ensuring that critical business applications remained compatible with new Windows releases.  In 1999, Menard founded Covasoft, Inc. and served as its Chief Technology Officer until its merger with Tonic Software in 2002.  He also worked as a senior consultant for Cap Gemini and as the director of ERP solutions at BMC Software.  Menard began his career at AT&T Bell Labs and spent 13 years with the company. He holds two patents with the systems he developed at Covasoft for real-time diagnosis of business transaction failures in a highly distributed environment. Menard earned a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.

About The Planet
The Planet is the 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.  By offering the best choice of servers, software tools, and world-class support, backed by state-of-the-art facilities and unmatched network connectivity, The Planet helps turn information technology into a powerful competitive advantage that enables customers to successfully grow their businesses.  For additional information, visit www.theplanet.com.