When a person enters a domain name into a browser or requests information from a website, that request is normally routed through a series of servers until it reaches the server housing the site. The farther the request must travel, the more time it takes to reach its destination. The same rule applies to the response on its way back.
The Shortest Distance
A content delivery network streamlines this process by shortening the distance the request and data must travel. With a content delivery network, groups of servers are deployed over a large geographic area. The CDN replicates its clients’ data and stores it at each location. When a request comes in, the CDN servers work together to identify the quickest route to transmit the data to the end user.
Better Reliability
Because CDN servers are spread out geographically and over the Internet, they also provide enhanced reliability because they are not affected by a slowdown or outage in one area. A CDN can reroute data through the next-quickest route to ensure delivery to the end user.
Takes a Load off Your Server
Another advantage of storing your files in each Point of Presence (PoP) on the CDN network is that the requests served by the CDN servers aren’t processed by your servers, thus lightening those servers’ load.
Change is always hard on a business, especially when it comes time to migrate from an old, familiar software product to a newer, advanced package. The success of a software migration project typically hinges on finding a System Integrator (SI) that can understand your business challenges and install the new software while keeping the company’s core values and processes intact.
By definition, System Integrators are essentially consultants who specialize in installing, configuring and customizing the new software, then training your organization on its use. Here are five essential qualities that define a useful SI:
Major software implementation projects invariably run into problems. It’s not anyone’s fault – These ventures simply involve a lot of moving parts and complex code, all handled while your day‐to‐day operation continues. For this reason alone, we recommend that you identify an SI partner that has a documented track record with the software, and has responded to problems as they arose with smart decisions. An SI should be able to look at a software bug and know how to tackle the problem quickly.
During your SI vetting process, search for an integrator whose professional opinion you can value. Remember: The SI will effectively become your business partner for the duration of the project. Thus, they should grasp the long‐term vision of the company for the software being installed. They should also be able to detect and work around hidden costs that are often buried in the details. Ideally, the SI you select will be on your side – advocating for the best deal overall, not just one that runs up their hourly billable time.
Before the project begins, you should set important target dates and expected deliverables from the SI. This will set expectations on both sides beyond a “good faith policy.” It’s crucial that the SI be capable of timely, efficient work.
The clearer the goals are defined, the less chance of misinterpretation on both sides. The SI should be able to review the timelines and, if agreed upon, break up the project into “phases” and tangible milestones.
All SI partners have the capacity to install the software and train your organization to use it. The true value is in finding someone who can meet your precise needs and specifications. If you are re‐engineering many processes to accommodate a software package, something is probably wrong with the project, or with the SI. Keep in mind, your day‐to‐day routine is inherent to your corporate culture, and is your competitive advantage – don’t allow unnecessary changes to rock the boat.
Every project spawns its own set of unique problems and solutions that are above and beyond the standard user guide. Before your SI concludes their work be sure they provide a reference document while it’s still fresh in your mind. It’s tedious work, but can save your co‐workers a lot of stress down the road.
In short, a main driver of purchasing new software is to help run your business more smoothly with fewer long-term costs. However, overall success in maximizing your software investment relies on finding an SI that is motivated to work hard and is aligned to your corporate goals.
Maurice Berdugo, BP Analytics
It’s time for the holiday rush, and increasingly each year, consumers are avoiding the hustle and bustle of brick-and-mortar gift-buying for the relative ease of e-commerce. Who wants to brave the conditions and the crowds when you can buy online by the fire (and never change out of your pajamas).
Hostway has a great deal of experience with helping businesses prepare their web presences for the holiday rush, as retailer Christmas Treasures can testify. With Cyber Thursday, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday on the horizon, we know you’ll have high expectations for sales.
We’ve also got several special deals to encourage you to spend your holidays with us! Because we know you've been good, here are a few things we can arrange for your stocking:
Holiday E-Commerce Bundle: 15% off customizable Magento configurations
Is your infrastructure ready to handle the heat of holiday sales? Check out our high-quality e-commerce solutions. Community and Enterprise options available.
Holiday Security Bundle: 20% off SilverSky security services with any new server
Don't let your guard down this holiday season. Protect yourself and your customers from any would-be Grinches who'd try to steal your stash with Hostway security and PCI bundles.
Interested in trying Microsoft Exchange? ’Tis the season! Our customers are invited to a 30-day free trial of this powerful communication tool. Access email from any device, any time; share contacts and calendars to keep your team in sync, and improve productivity with collaboration features. It’s a great way to get through the hustle and bustle of the season.
Just starting your web presence? Get online in time for holiday shoppers to find you! Attract holiday shoppers with a business website produced and maintained by an intuitive website builder with professionally designed templates, drag-and-drop editing, and more. For a limited time you can also get unlimited pages, mobile site optimization, and social media integration with Website Extender. Our special Website Unlimited plan includes Website Starter ($6.95) AND Website Extender ($9.95/mo) for just $12.95/mo – Over 20% savings! Order online or call today! Promo code: holiday13
Need more holiday season help? Check out our 9 Tips to Improve Online Sales This Holiday Season at Small Biz Technology, or check out our newsletters for advice on Sprucing Up Your Site Before the Holiday Rush or Preparing for the Potential Traffic Spikes.
Give our elfin' sales team a call: 1-855-265-1013. And keep an eye out for our holiday video.
In our era of mobile internet access and e-commerce acceleration, business websites are an intrinsic part of commercial success – aren’t they? Some small-business decision-makers are yet to be sold on the necessity of a web presence.
Google research indicates that 63 percent of small businesses have no website, even as 97 percent of online consumers use online media to research products and services, regardless of whether the purchase is made online or offline.
So what’s the argument to get the stragglers on board? It comes down to this: Get found and get known, or you’ll get beat.
Get found …
People Google everything – something has to be fairly prevalent to become a verb on its own. If your company isn’t present in Google's search results, it’s not presented as an option to a massive potential audience. To get in Google results, you need a website.
Your website is your neon sign along the information superhighway (to use an admittedly dated term). But it goes way beyond “Stop here for this” – tell the world about your company, your history, your services and your expertise. Provide the most basic, most important information: your location, your hours and your contact info.
Of course, attracting customers online goes beyond having a simple signpost – your website must be search engine-optimized, with content that accurately describes what you do (and more content is generally better).
Either way, there’s a worldwide audience to access now, whether or not your business involves online sales.
… Get Known …
There’s probably already information on the web about your business – thing is, you can’t control it. Review websites like Yelp – or social media commentary via Facebook, Twitter, or other sites – tell the world whatever any internet user wants to say about you – even your competitors. If this kind of information is all there is online about your business, you’re at a severe disadvantage.
Instead, you should have a custom image and story. Build your brand. Tell your story, your way. Your website will convey legitimacy and build buyer confidence just through its existence, and you can extend that feeling by creating and linking to social networking sites or adding a blog.
Internet users make quick judgments about businesses – that decision isn’t likely to be positive if there’s no web presence to be found. Publish something that represents who you are and tells people where to find you and how to contact you.
… or Get Beat.
If someone looking for a business like yours can’t find you online, how do they find you at all? Imagine yourself unaware of your own business, trying to find it without the aid of any online resources. Would you have to drive past your storefront or hear about you from a friend to discover you? That’s unacceptable.
Most likely, your competitors are already online. Catch up with the times, or risk being rendered irrelevant by your competitors. It’s probable that online options exist in your industry and in your location. Don’t surrender customers to them. Compete.
Get found, get known, or get beat: These are the times we live in. Brick-and-mortar business won’t go extinct in a local context, but without an online presence, finding and attracting new customers can be futile.
With today’s growing e-commerce market, it’s essential to have an e-commerce website that is both user-friendly and visually appealing. However, when your Magento front-end is the main focus of work, you have to make sure the other parts of your business are being neglected.
On December 11, at 1 p.m., join Hostway Demand Generation Manager Javier Cano, Logicbroker Sales Director George Heudorfer, and Logicbroker Marketing Coordinator Rebecca Kaelin as we discuss how expert partners can handle hosting and back-end integrations.
Free up your resources and allocate them towards nurturing your business and maintaining a competitive edge in today’s upbound e-commerce environment. See how to:
Register now for this informative webinar.
As technology evolves, businesses are gaining additional tools for making their operations more efficient, productive and cost-effective. One such evolution under way across industries such as healthcare and insurance is the rise of virtualization, the process by which computing components like hardware, desktops, servers, operating systems, network resources and storage units operate virtually as opposed to physically. With a cloud instance, businesses are able to distribute granular computing and other resources, allowing them to build efficient solutions, and often saving money in the process.
Virtualization prioritizes efficiency, particularly when it comes to storage and networking. For example, a company might have 10 applications on 10 different physical servers, each running at 10 percent of CPU utilization. Virtualization allows you to pool those resources so you’re able to run those 10 applications on one virtual server, which is then running at full capacity, optimizing efficiency while reducing costs.
Some of the key properties of virtual machines include:
Core Benefits
In addition, virtual hosting solutions are scalable. If a company needs more resources, and a virtual server it’s using is at capacity, they can spin up a new instance at a moment’s notice. Because of the ease with which those servers can be optimized, companies don’t have to spend money controlling more servers than they need at any given time. For example, one could imagine that cloud-based tax preparation solutions need more resources during the week leading up to April 15 than at most other times of the year. Virtualization – coupled with an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solution – allows such a company to spin up instances easily, only paying for what they need, when they need it, and spin back down after the rush subsides.
Other benefits of virtualization include:
Virtualization seems to be everywhere, and everyone wants to take advantage of the benefits it offers. But many are confused about what it means and where to start. Virtualization can be run on a single server as a virtual host, or spanned across multiple servers in a cloud to offer redundancy and high availability. You can make the choice to invest in hardware yourself and deploy either type in-house, or you can work with a hosting provider who will set the equipment up for you, allowing you to spread the cost out over a longer term.
Though they rely on their computers to be the backbone of their businesses, most companies are simply not in the business of computing – Nor should they be according to many experts. Their strong suits are not related to maximizing the efficiency of their computing infrastructure while maintaining it and keeping it secure.
LL Bean is in the business of selling clothing, and a lot of that business is conducted online. Rather than directing resources toward something that is outside the scope of LL Bean’s expertise, the company stands to benefit from using virtual servers and other items through the cloud. That allows the company to focus on its bread and butter while resting assured that its computing infrastructure is in great hands.
With Gartner projecting that the cloud computing market will reach $150 billion this year, it’s safe to say businesses continue to realize the benefits stemming from virtualization. And it’s likely that the market will continue to grow into the foreseeable future.
Decision-makers are increasingly recognizing the importance of implementing disaster recovery plans to safeguard their businesses. Whether a storm damages your office, your hardware suddenly fails, or an exploded water pipe floods your office, unpredictable incidents can derail business operations.
Even with Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Katrina fresh in our minds, a Harris Interactive study of more than 3,000 decision-makers indicates 28 percent of businesses do not have a disaster recovery plan in place. An additional 19 percent aren’t sure if they do. A survey of 600 American small businesses conducted by Alibaba, Vendio and Auctiva indicates 74 percent lack disaster preparedness plans.
The companies without plans in place are gambling with the future of their businesses. According to the National Archives & Records Administration, 93 percent of companies which lost access to their data for 10 or more days in the aftermath of a disaster filed for bankruptcy within a year. This emphasizes the significance of a strong disaster recovery plan.
Conceiving a disaster recovery plan isn’t enough: Periodic testing of your plan will detect any issues with its execution. While a successful test may not offer absolute reassurance, an unsuccessful test certainly indicates the need for an overhaul.
Once a strong disaster recovery plan is in place, its details should be distributed to employees so that everyone knows what to do. All employees should also have a master document with everyone’s contact information. The aforementioned test runs will help familiarize employees with their responsibilities.
With a data center located in Tampa, Hostway knows firsthand the importance of preparing for disasters. Accordingly, Hostway does everything in its power to ensure that data is protected. Should Tampa be hit by a hurricane, Hostway customers can rest assured their business continuity is not at stake.
Prior to each hurricane season, Hostway’s Tampa team reviews its Hurricane Preparedness Guide, refamiliarizing itself with contingency plans for the months ahead. The 10th-floor data centers are protected from any flooding, and their building is constructed to withstand the strongest winds on record.
If a strong storm is coming, Hostway will prepare its facilities to make sure they’re fully stocked with supplies and in tip-top shape. Staff will remain on-site during the storm with a stockpile of food and water. To learn more about how Hostway’s hurricane preparedness plan protects your data, click here.
On November 6 and 7, Hostway will join thousands of Digital Marketers at ad:tech in New York. Out of the hundreds of exhibitors attending, we encourage you to stop by booth #211. In addition to our charm and entertaining banter, we have some great products launching at the show. Here are three reasons to say, “Hi”:
1. We’ll be giving away FREE stuff.
Ok, so every booth will be giving away FREE stuff, and we are no different. Current customers who stop by will receive a $5 Starbucks gift card and an opportunity to catch up – in person!
Also, anyone who gets their badge scanned – current customers and people new to Hostway alike – will be entered to win a $100 AmEx gift card. Get $100 bucks in your pocket before the holidays start.
2. Our cloud is getting a facelift.
As a digital marketer, your users’ experience must be optimal. Websites that host dynamic media must have the ability to handle growing volumes of rich media, and ever-changing traffic patterns. Fast page load times, rapid content downloads, and website uptime are crucial. Our FlexCloud Server is a great option for you. Our scalable, on-demand cloud computing solution combines the flexibility of a public cloud with the reliability and performance of an enterprise-grade virtual environment. Plus, we will be launching Windows Server 2012 R2. The scalability, performance and resiliency of our cloud will be enhanced.
3. Our startup program launches.
We are excited to see the eight startups present at The Startup Spotlight during the show, and celebrate with the ad:tech Innovation Award winner. We also want to help with their hosting needs. Hostway’s Emergence Startup Program will premiere at ad:tech. We will give selected startups up to $1,500 hosting credit for cloud and managed servers for six months. Learn more at the show.
This will be Hostway’s first year at ad:tech. Stop by booth #211 to learn more about our basic infrastructure offerings, our new and improved FlexCloud servers, and our startup program, Emergence.
Last year, Hostway donated $10,000 to the Red Cross’ Hurricane Sandy Relief fund in lieu of our traditional corporate gift-giving. We made two videos to explain our rationale, and we talked about it on the news.
This year, we’re skipping the corporate gifting again – and we need your input to choose a charity. Tell us where out $10,000 donation should go. Learn about each charity below.
Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs.
The vision of the NGCP is to bring together organizations throughout the United States that are committed to informing and encouraging girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Make-A-Wish® grants the wish of a child diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition in the United States and its territories, on average, every 38 minutes. We believe that a wish experience can be a game-changer. This one belief guides us. It inspires us to grant wishes that change the lives of the kids we serve.
We help protect people from malaria. We fund anti-malaria nets, specifically long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs), and work with distribution partners to ensure they are used. We track and report malaria case data.
Susan G. Komen – Denver Metropolitan Chapter
Komen is the global leader of the breast cancer movement, investing hundreds of millions of dollars each year for research, education, screening and treatment and encouraging governments everywhere to make cancer a top priority.
Contributing to the world around us is part of Hostway's ethos. Guide us in our efforts to make our global society a better place.
Choosing the right software to power your business is of the utmost importance. Making the wrong investment could severely cripple an enterprise, so it’s in your best interest to look for cost-effective, flexible solutions to power your operations.
In the past, software decision-makers would generally be forced to purchase proprietary software. These days, however, they can choose between proprietary and open-source software. While proprietary products had enjoyed a stranglehold on the market, open source has taken measureable strides as of late, establishing itself as a viable substitute.
Both forms have benefits and drawbacks. So if there’s a theoretical battle between proprietary and open-source software, which one is winning? We’ll let you decide for yourself.
Proprietary Software
The proprietary software market certainly isn’t disappearing. When you purchase software from a reputable vendor, odds are you’re getting a quality product. Should something go wrong with that product, you’re able to hop on the phone and connect with that company’s customer service department in order to get things back on track. The companies that produce software for enterprise customers have their finger on the pulse of what the business world needs. Their products are designed specifically with those needs in mind.
On the other side of the coin, acquiring proprietary software for enterprise usage doesn’t come cheaply. Furthermore, once a company implements a proprietary solution, it becomes very dependent on the developer, because only that company’s programmers know how the software works. The business then must contact the proprietary software creator whenever problems arise, instead of turning elsewhere for help. Proprietary software is static due to the concealed coding, which can make it challenging to adapt to the ever-changing needs of the modern business environment.
Open-Source Software
Many companies turn to open-source software because it is created by a community of developers and costs substantially less – if anything – when compared to proprietary software. Because the software is developed by a community, whenever any bugs or security flaws are exploited, programmers quickly work to patch them up. Furthermore, the open software is designed to function with other open software, whereas proprietary software generally is designed to operate in a closed system. This makes open-source software flexible, quickly adapting to changing business needs.
But open source isn’t without its faults. Sure it is developed by a community of programmers. But just how good are they? Some critics wonder about the quality of the programmers working on the code. Because these programmers don’t work for a particular company, should a company have a problem with open-source software, there’s no one to air possible grievances to that is ultimately responsible for resolving them. Finally, open source isn’t designed specifically with enterprises in mind, so some critics argue it’s not well-suited for business needs.
In 2010, 75 percent of Global 2000 enterprises used open-source software in their mission-critical software portfolios. By 2016, that number is expected to rise to 99 percent. While both kinds of software certainly have their pros and cons, it appears as though open source continues to gain momentum. Is your company using open-source software? If so, what type of software? If not, what concerns are holding you back?
