March Madness brings American sports fans one of the most anticipated events of the year: the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. This year, Hostway got in on the action with a contest for fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter.
The contest had two elements: a daily trivia contest and a bracket challenge. For the daily trivia contest, the first person to correctly answer a trivia question posted on Facebook or Twitter won a $10 Starbucks gift card.
For the second part of the contest, participants had to create a tournament bracket populated with their picks for the winners of the 63 games that made up the 2013 Men’s Tournament. Those predictions were submitted to Hostway’s private Yahoo! Group, and the person whose bracket scored highest won $1,000 from Hostway.
As the tournament progressed, contestants were eliminated based of the performance of the teams they selected, but all could still vie for the daily $10 gift certificates. The final winner of the bracket competition was Neil Peller from Oakland, N.J.
After winning, we had the opportunity to ask Neil, of AW Peller, some questions about the game and his relationship with Hostway.
Q: How did you first hear about Hostway?
A: We first heard about Hostway through their partnership with Costco a number of years ago. As a small business, we were looking for economical solutions to launch a new website. We used Hostway for web design, hosting, and getting proper certificates.
Q: Aside from winning, what was the best part of the contest?
A: Contests are a great way to connect with a vendor. It gives you a personal connection that you may not have had otherwise. I have filled out brackets for the past 20 years, and I have never even been close.
Q: Would you recommend Hostway to a friend looking for hosted solutions?
A: Yes. I have called customer service for various issues over the years, and I have always achieved a resolution to the problem.
Q: What kind of fun thing would you like to see Hostway do next?
A: Any sports contests. NFL football would be great.
Well Neil, Hostway can’t make any promises about the NFL, but we can say for sure that we’ve got some more events coming up that we’re sure you won’t want to miss!
Are you a customer or partner of Hostway? Eager to share your experience with others? Just email media@hostway.com to become a guest blogger.
With ever-increasing reports of data breaches and hacker activity, you need to protect yourself from the sophisticated and varied threats to your business. Whether it’s data security, availability, or your reputation on the line, the stakes are high. But the landscape of security solutions is complicated and fast-moving. What technologies do you need? How do you manage them? It can be a confusing process.
Here at Alert Logic, hosting and cloud security are our major focus. We work with top providers like Hostway to understand the unique needs of forward-looking companies that are taking advantage of these models, and the requirements for providing enterprise-class security. While there aren't simple answers, there are practices that will help you make the right decisions about security in your hosted and cloud infrastructure. Let's take a look at one of them: identifying the most relevant threats to your defenses.
Because we have the largest base of customers securing infrastructure with hosting service providers, we see the threats they face, and we regularly analyze this data for our State of Cloud Security Report series. The latest report just came out this spring, and contains important insights for you as you develop your security strategies.
Looking at six months of real-world threat data for customers in enterprise data centers, managed hosting environments, and the cloud, produced these key findings:
The infographic below provides a visualization of some of the report results; you can download the full report at http://www.alertlogic.com/csr.
Alert Logic State of Cloud Security Infographic, Spring 2013
One of the really interesting findings – and one that we've seen consistently over several years of data – is that overall, cloud and hosted customers were less likely to experience security incidents than enterprise data center environments. That's not what most people expect, but our data identifies this is a benefit of the great management and operational excellence that a provider like Hostway offers.
As you would expect, this data has a big impact on our own product development plans, and Alert Logic works with providers like Hostway to provide services and technology that address the most important threats:
All of our solutions are designed for hosted and cloud environments, and we provide 24x7 monitoring and response so that they provide real security outcomes – not just data. Our Security Operations Center, tightly integrated with Hostway's operations, identifies real threats and helps you respond and protect your data.
This tight integration with your hosting provider is a unique model – and as more infrastructure moves to virtualized environments, we believe it will be the standard for securing critical infrastructure and applications. Just as Hostway represents the future of IT infrastructure, Alert Logic's security-as-a-service is there to provide integrated security services.
About the author: John Whiteside is Manager of Product Marketing at Alert Logic
Jacqueline Sylvia, owner and operator of New Bedford, Mass.-based JS Web Solutions, has provided custom website design for small to mid-sized businesses, professionals and individuals in a wide range of industries. In formulating her business plan, Jacqueline quickly identified the need to offer hosting solutions to her clientele as part an overall comprehensive product mix. After careful analysis of a wide range of hosting solutions, JS Web Solutions selected Hostway as a hosting partner. This was in 1999, the year JS Web Solutions was founded.
Jacqueline considers Hostway’s technical staff to be her own IT department. As a one-person shop, Jacqueline has a business to run; she doesn’t have time to mess around with IT issues “Aside from myself, I feel that the FANTASTIC and dedicated support team at Hostway is the one thing I can truly count on in my business,” Jacqueline said.
Using her marketing and web-design skills, Jacqueline provides JS Web Solutions clients the branding and communications they need to reach the internet community. As the domain hosting company, Hostway provides the backbone needed to deliver the message. Today, if you don’t have a website, you don’t have a business. It’s like the yellow pages of yesteryear – if you didn’t have an ad placed there, you didn’t exist. Without a web presence, your customers can’t find you – that’s particularly true in Jacqueline’s industry of website design and hosting.
With Hostway, you can place hundreds of registered domains under a single account, simplifying resolution of hosting or domain-related issues via the dedicated support team, available 24/7. Though they may not know it, after 12 plus years, Jacqueline considers the Hostway support team to be part of her business family! “They are always available, courteous and ready to assist no matter what the request may be,” Jacqueline said.
Jacqueline’s positive experiences have covered her entire 14-year stay with Hostway.
“As I mentioned, I’m a one-woman shop. I don’t have the time or the budget for an IT department, and I certainly can’t afford to have my website, or one of my 200+ client websites, down or not functioning correctly,” Jacqueline explained. “I cannot recall a single time where I've had an issue, question or problem where Hostway did not reach me and deliver a prompt, courteous and complete resolution to the issue.”
“When I began in 1999, there were a lot of decisions to be made and issues to resolve. And throughout the years, in the ever-changing internet environment, more technical considerations appeared than I ever imagined. But Hostway had been with me every step of the way,” Jacqueline continued. “I truly feel I can count on Hostway. It's a business decision I am grateful that I had the foresight to consider, along with the sheer luck that a fine company like Hostway was around to deliver.”
Think that because you are an SMB you’re not at risk of an online attack? Think again. In Symantec’s 2013 Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 18, they found that 31% of all targeted attacks aimed for businesses with less than 250 employees. This infographic from Hostway talks about where malware might be hiding – in your email or Facebook applications, in those free movie tickets you won and downloaded, and yes, even on legitimate websites like Amazon.
So what can you do to protect yourself from malware? First and foremost, use some common sense and do not click on links that look suspicious. If a friend emails you something that seems out of character, then it’s probably not a good idea to open the attachment without first verifying with your friend that it is legitimate.
Second, make sure you have the latest anti-malware and anti-virus software installed on your system. A small investment now can save you hundreds of dollars and countless headaches later. There are a number of good free anti-malware software programs available. But be careful: Some of those are malware themselves. If you aren’t sure, it may be safer to pay for a brand name solution. And make sure you schedule regular scans of your computer and files.
The implementation of anti-malware scanning software on one’s website can help you stay safe from these malicious attacks. Typically available through the cloud, it scans customer-facing sites for signs of malware and lets the website owner know if any is located. A relatively simple yet effective tool, it helps keep your site safe from malware and helps keep your customers safe as well.
Those are just a couple of things that you can do at a personal level, but what about at a network level? That is where things like firewalls and managed security come into play to protect you against more sophisticated cyber attacks. These sophisticated cyber attacks can be even more detrimental to your business. According to a 2011 Ponemon Institute LLC Research Report, the average cost of a data break is $214/record1. Multiple that by the number of records your business houses and the amount an attack could cost your business might be astronomical. Not to mention the customer and reputation loss.
Firewalls are your first level of protection against unwanted intrusion. They help keep the bad guys out and the good guys in. With Hostway, you have the option of having either shared or dedicated managed firewalls. Our firewall solutions ensure the highest level of security by tracking and controlling the flow of data coming into your network using stateful packet inspection of the traffic stream. Hostway's network security experts will manage the solution for you, making sure your firewall is properly set to protect your business assets.
Another aspect of security is having an intrusion detection/prevention system (IDPS). Even with firewalls and anti-malware software, your internal data is susceptible to attack should something slip through, so having an intrusion detection/prevention system in place at the network level is critical. IDPS detects anomalous, inappropriate, or unauthorized data attempting to enter your network. If it detects suspicious traffic, protective measures are automatically implemented.
Phishing scams, viruses, malware, hackers – it can be scary out there. However, with the proper safeguards in place and some common sense, you can avoid being victimized by data zombies!
1 2011 Cost of Data Breach Study United States, Ponemon Institute, March 2012
HIPAA and Outsourcing Your IT Applications:
As you probably know, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) requirements are very strict when it comes to patient-data confidentiality. So what does that mean when it comes to the applications you use for things like records retention, patient communication and other business critical applications? Do you have to spend gobs of money to build your own private network? The answer is a resounding NO!
You can still outsource your applications to a hosting service like Hostway and remain compliant with HIPAA, but you need to ensure that three main types of safeguards are in place: administrative, physical, and technical. This whitepaper from Hostway goes into greater detail on each of these, but here’s a brief overview.
Administrative safeguards are addressed when healthcare providers deploy policies and procedures that prove they are complying with HIPAA requirements. You know all those papers you have to sign at the doctor’s office and all those documents you have to read? Those are designed to help ensure that your information is kept confidential and that you understand those policies and procedures.
Physical safeguards include such things as locks on file cabinets, limiting personnel access to patient files, and limiting potential exposure of personal data at every exchange point. For example, when you go to the pharmacy, there’s a special window for patient consultation with the pharmacist designed to protect your conversation about your medications; you are encouraged to come inside to discuss your medicines rather than have those conversations at the drive-thru.
Finally, and most importantly for our discussion, are technological safeguards. At Hostway, we provide a multitude of ways for you to protect confidential patient information and comply with HIPAA requirements. This whitepaper covers the details of HIPAA HITECH. Although there are still things that providers need to do to ensure complete compliance, Hostway can provide many of the requirements:
For a full discussion of the HIPAA information access management requirements, see this blog by Peter Hesse where he describes requirements for accessing electronic protected health information.
Once you read that, you might think that compliance seems almost out of reach but Hostway has a solution called HIPAA HITECH that can help you address your HIPAA headaches.
For a free consultation, contact Hostway at 877.798.6239 or email us at sales@hostway.com. To learn more, visit our HIPAA page, where you’ll find resources on HIPAA and protecting your email.
When it comes to protecting your patients’ confidentiality, you simply cannot afford to take risks. But you also don’t have to break the bank trying to digitize your office. Hostway can help -- call us today!
Hostway isn’t just a company; it’s also a member of the communities in which we do business. Furthermore, we’re a member of the global community. As a result, we couldn’t help but be moved by the suffering we saw when Hurricane Sandy hit the Eastern seaboard of the United States back in October 2012. During the holiday season, Hostway normally sends its partners and customers small holiday gifts. This year, in light of the devastation caused by the hurricane, we decided to do something different.
Hostway took the money normally allocated for holiday gifts and donated it to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts through the American Red Cross. On April 2, 2013, Hostway presented a check in the amount of $10,000 to the Red Cross’ San Antonio chapter to help those who continue to be affected by the aftermath of the superstorm.
Contributions to Superstorm Sandy efforts will continue to support people with long term needs such as housing and community assistance clean-up and repair items, physical and mental health services, and distribution of food and water. Hostway’s contribution will boost the continuing effort to support our neighbors on the East coast.
“Like so many others watching the devastation unfold on television, our hearts were broken for the thousands of residents affected by Superstorm Sandy,” said John Martis, Hostway President and CEO. “Motivated to make a meaningful impact to aid recovery efforts, we decided to make this contribution to the Red Cross in lieu of our usual holiday corporate gifts, and we encouraged other businesses to do the same. Many of our clients expressed how grateful they were that we’d decided to put that money to good use helping people get back on their feet, rather than sending them some over-commercialized trinket.”
At Hostway, we are dedicated to being good corporate citizens, and know that there’s more to being a good company than just making money. We do good work, but we believe in doing works of good as well.
Although cloud computing has been around for quite a while, there’s a surprising lack of empirical data gauging its impact on business. However, PWC conducted a survey of 489 businesses to try to get a handle on what the future holds for data centers and cloud computing.1
According to a PCW survey, there is growing demand for IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). Over three quarters of the organizations surveyed had cloud plans, and just under two-thirds felt that the cloud would be the way to go within the next three years. This isn’t surprising given that cloud enables organizations of any size to scale without incurring operational expense, and many hosting companies offer flexible spending and pay-as-you-go models. These pricing structures put cloud computing within reach for many small and medium businesses.
Although there is a definite trend toward the cloud, it isn’t happening at a breakneck pace. Again referencing the PWC survey, the amount of resources dedicated by organizations to some sort of public or private cloud is only expected to grow by approximately 3% over the next three years. These organizations, however, already have a third of their infrastructure in the cloud. That growth rate doesn’t account for new cloud adoptees, or those yet to adopt the cloud.
And who is providing the cloud infrastructure? For the most part, the survey respondents said that traditional IT outsourcing providers (ITO) are the ones that will shoulder the costs, sparing outsourcing customers the expense, a major draw for both enterprise and SMBs. In addition, pure hosting companies are getting in on the action too. These organizations are faced with having to help their clients manage a mixed cloud and traditional infrastructure and help them determine which kind of cloud – public, private or hybrid – would best meet their customers’ business needs.
So what are the barriers that are keeping enterprise organizations out of the cloud? The number one answer is security. While the respondents overwhelmingly preferred private clouds to public, the reality is that most applications can be safely and securely deployed on public clouds. Only the most sensitive and mission-critical data should be reserved for more costly private clouds. Most organizations will be running a hybrid environment containing both public and private environments.
Given the concern about security, what is the business case for the cloud? The PWC survey brought out several key advantages. First, the cloud enables faster delivery of IT solutions. With applications in the cloud, it’s simple to deploy new software updates, patches and applications in minutes rather than days or weeks to clients attached to the cloud. . Second, as already mentioned, the cloud reduces the total cost for IT departments, removing cap-ex to support new and growing systems or to scale existing systems. Finally, IT department resources can be utilized for more strategic projects rather than routine maintenance.
So who’ll be your hosting provider? Call Hostway today at 877.798.6239 – let one of our experts show you how our cloud solutions provide benefits while simultaneously addressing all your concerns, all at a price point that might surprise you!
1The Future of IT Outsourcing and Cloud Computing, PCW
Partner Program has been rated as a 5-Star program by CRN for two years in a row (read the press release here). What does that mean for you? It means that if you join our partner program, you’re embarking on a rock-solid relationship that will help you nurture your business.
Hostway’s partner program is for Value Added Resellers (VARs), Developers, Ad and Marketing Agencies, and Independent Software Venders (ISVs). It is for anyone looking to capitalize on the fast-growing cloud environment with the ability to influence which hosting company your customers choose. So why partner with Hostway? What’s in it for you?
For one thing, we can help your cloud business thrive. It’s been shown that solid, strategic partnerships can help businesses grow. (See this white paper for more information.) You will benefit by getting aggressive incentives and deep volume discounts, and receive new recurring revenue streams. In addition, you can expand your business because by being a Hostway Partner, you’ll have access to our 600,000 customers! You’ll be able to drive new business by participating in joint strategic sales and marketing activities. You’ll be able to leverage a trusted technology infrastructure that is second to none, and deliver direct value-added products and services to your customers.
If you refer your customers to Hostway, they will appreciate all of the benefits of being a Hostway customer. With flexible pricing structures designed to fit their needs, Hostway provides a variety of solutions ranging from simple domain-name hosting to complex hybrid-cloud hosting in virtualized environments. Perfect for the SMB market, Hostway helps business owners focus on what they do best – running their business – and takes the worry out of IT. Your customer gets great hosting services and remembers you as the one that provided them with the referral. It’s a win-win-win.
Laura - Science Cheerleader and Microbes in Space
Laura is a Lead Generation Manager here at Hostway and a former cheerleader for the San Antonio Spurs – but her passions for cheerleading and technology have far-reaching effects beyond her own satisfaction. She’s also helping the community and furthering science at the same time! Laura is what’s known as a Science Cheerleader, and what she does is literally out of this world!
The Science Cheerleaders are current and former cheerleaders and dancers for professional sports franchises who have an interest in and passion for science. They engage in a variety of citizen-sponsored scientific projects around the United States. The goal of Science Cheerleaders is to challenge stereotypes about professional dancers and encourage young women to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and math. For Laura, participating in this event was a natural extension of her lifelong love of learning and community outreach. Science Cheerleaders also work to bring science into the lives of everyday citizens, working for a more informed public. In addition to promoting formal research projects, Science Cheerleaders collaborated with NBC Sports, NBC Learn, the NFL and the National Science Foundation to produce an Emmy -winning video series titled The Science of NFL Football. Their notable first performance was at the U.S.A. Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C., in October, 2010, a presentation made possible by the support of the Burroughs Welcome Fund.
As a San Antonio Spurs Silver Dancer for eight years, Laura participated in many city-wide appearances with various non-profit groups to help support and raise
awareness for various causes and promote education. She found these charitable events as a Silver Dancer rewarding as a chance to give back to the community, and she continues to enjoy participating in anything related to higher education.
Her opportunity to join Science Cheerleaders came not too long ago when she participated in a pro dance workshop. “I was introduced to the organization’s founder who was seeking a former or current pro dancer/cheerleader in the San Antonio and Austin area. I really liked the idea of the Science Cheerleaders.” And the rest is history. Or more appropriately, science.
In San Antonio, the Science Cheerleaders have teamed up with SciStarter, UC Davis and the National Science Teachers Association to help with Project Merccuri to study microbes in space! On April 12, 2013, they gathered microbes from a San Antonio Spurs game; one sample is going to be sent to the International Space Station for further study – a truly out-of-this-world endeavor.
In a recent interview with Laura, she stated that the best advice she would give to herself as a 12-year-old was to not 
lose sight of the importance of education. While being involved with sports and activities that you enjoy is important, it’s also important to keep your studies at the forefront as well.
Laura has a BA in Communications, Marketing and Public Relations from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and because of her work at Hostway, she is able to use that degree in a technology-related field.
So you want to start a website, but don’t know where to begin? HTML, SEO, ISPs, FTP, NAS, SAN… It’s hard to digest the alphabet soup when you have a business to run!
How about downloading our eBook, “6 Steps for Getting Your Small Business Online and In Front of Customers”? This great little guide will get you started with all the basics, providing some easy tips and ideas for getting your site in front of customers.
First, we’ll walk through some basics of naming and registering your domain, which might sound simple but really is a critical first step. After all, it’s your customers’ first interaction with you, and first impressions count.
Next, we’ll learn about writing and building your website. Can hardly spell HTML? No problem. With Hostway, there’s a myriad of services that make building your own site a breeze. There’s a drag-and-drop editor for beginners; the more technically advanced can upload their own site built in Dreamweaver or another program. Either way, the eBook offers tips on making the most of your content and maximizing your valuable online real estate and readers’ time. On the web, every second counts.
This eBook even talks about making your site Google-friendly, boosting its rank in search engines, increasing the chance that prospective customers will find you. In addition, there are sections on social media, engaging with your community and Google analytics – all critical aspects of a successful, more profitable website!
Finally, remember all those strange acronyms at the beginning of this blog? This handy eBook has a glossary of common web terms. No longer will you be baffled by webspeak or feel like you’ve just landed in a foreign country! Best of all, no matter where you are in the process, if you have your site with Hostway, help is just a click away. With lots of online articles and how-to documents, email and voice support, you can spend more time doing what you do best – running your business – and less time worrying about your website. So what are you waiting for? Download the eBook and get started today!