Web Host News Now

(The Hosting News)  –  Web hosting provider ServInt, today announced it is donating hosting services for the new philanthropic effort Indie Music for Haiti (www.indiemusicforhaiti.com).

The new site from Maryland-based music studio Asparagus Media allows independent musicians to submit video clips of recent performances, new songs written for or about the crisis, and other video content designed to promote charitable giving to Haitian relief. The site is structured to make submitting content simple, and allows artists to easily direct viewers to the charity of their choice.

To mark the launch of the site, ServInt was a major supporter of the successful Indie Music for Haiti fundraising concert Feb. 2nd at the popular Washington, DC music venue DC9. The event, which featured performances by artists including Tommy T of Gogol Bordello, raised several thousand dollars for the relief group Voice of Haiti (www.voiceofhaiti.org). One of the highlights of the event was an appearance by ServInt CEO and Founder Reed Caldwell, who flew in from ServInt’s Los Angeles office to announce that ServInt would match all donations made at the event.

All the performances from the Feb. 2nd event were filmed in high definition, and are among the first clips anchoring the content at Indie Music for Haiti.

“A huge part of the worldwide music industry isn’t affiliated with any mainstream music label. We’re giving these kinds of artists and their fans a place to congregate and make a positive difference for a devastated nation,” said Asparagus Media President Fritz Stolzenbach.

ServInt Chief Operating Officer Christian Dawson said, “With the potential to showcase hundreds of high-quality music-video files, Indie Music for Haiti will require a large amount of bandwidth and continuous monitoring to ensure reliable performance. ServInt will deploy all necessary hosting resources to guarantee an optimal user experience and give thousands of music fans the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing relief effort in Haiti.”

Dawson added, “ServInt has a long, successful association with some of the nation’s most progressive technology, music, art and literary communities. We expect to make additional announcements later this year, detailing our support for selected organizations that are helping to drive the economy, enlighten the general public and provide assistance to those in need.”

ServInt donates web-hosting services for new philanthropic effort Indie Music for Haiti

Fraud Risk?
The knee surgery seems to have gone well enough to let me drive into the office for the week. Walking’s still a little tricky. But at least I can drive! (Read More…)

• The Server Reseller Paradox
• Shills in the web hosting industry

Read the entire “Fraud Risk?” edition of the Web Hosting Talk Insider

(The Hosting News) – The business community has offered it’s support for Codero’s recently launched Price Match Challenge. This new program has had a highly positive effect among small- to medium-sized businesses desiring a less expensive solution for dedicated and managed hosting services. The limited-time promotion allows customers to receive a price match for any publicly advertised price from a competitor for identical products and services.

“In these recessionary times, we are committed to the success of our customers which is why we have gone to great lengths to competitively price the products and services we offer,” stated Shelby Garlock, Director, Marketing. “In fact, we are so dedicated to offering the best possible value that if a customer discovers a better price for like services, we’ll honor it. We have found when we can meet our customers’ demand for responsive, quality services at low-cost prices, it’s a win-win for everybody. Response has been overwhelmingly favorable.”

In order to receive a price match, customers must submit a copy of a dated price and specification quote that is no more than thirty days old, or a live link to a website advertising the price and specifications to be matched. The Price Match Challenge is valid on newly activated dedicated and managed hosting services, and will be honored for as long as the customer maintains that service with Codero.

Codero’s Cost-Saving Measures Provoke Favorable Reaction

(The Hosting News) – Chicago based Steadfast Networks, has officially announced its environmental green initiative by implementing a 100% carbon offset. This offset will be utilized for staff commuting, office usage, core infrastructure, networking equipment, shared web hosting, VPS hosting, and backup services. Steadfast Networks is certified “carbon neutral” by Carbonfund.org, an environmentally-friendly organization that helps businesses reduce and offset their climate impact.

“Moving steadily forward in the 21st century does not mean trampling all over our natural resources, so we have teamed up with Carbonfund.org and implemented a variety of green initiative programs to help preserve our natural resources,” says Karl Zimmerman, CEO of Steadfast Networks. “The same high quality and exceptional service Steadfast Networks stands for in our managed servers, colocation hosting services, and web hosting services is the standard we aspire to for maintaining a healthy environment.”

In addition to becoming carbon neutral and purchasing carbon offsets, Steadfast Networks encourages employees to commute by foot, bike, or public transportation, and in some cases, work from home. To increase efficiency and help the environment, local vendors such as Amadi Systems provide more than 90% of Steadfast Networks’ equipment, cutting down on the emissions caused while transporting. Steadfast Networks orders the equipment with no packing materials in order to reduce the trash produced. All paper and cardboard products, equipment, hardware, and servers building-wide are recycled.

“Not having to unpack equipment has increased the speed of operations and made our Chicago hosting services and data centers run more efficiently,” says Zimmerman. “Highly efficient network systems and dedicated server hosting also reduce carbon outputs, and those are options we also offer to customers who want to reduce their carbon imprint.”

Steadfast Network’s base operations, shared web hosting, VPS hosting, and backup services are carbon neutral. Customers who wish to receive carbon neutral colocation services and dedicated server hosting indicate that choice by contacting a Steadfast Networks representative or when placing an order. Additionally, Steadfast Networks’ low power Atom servers, Xeon processors and Intel solid state drives lower operational costs while reducing the carbon footprint associated with hosting services. Providing dedicated server, colocation, and hosting services without up-selling a more energy-intensive IT solution a customer does not need further reduces
environmental impact.

“People who are passionate about caring for our world are loyal to companies who share that same sense of responsibility,” says Zimmerman. “Customers appreciate transparency and businesses with carbon neutral hosting services can let their clients know they are standing up and doing their part for our world.”

For more information on Steadfast Networks’ green initiative, or to suggest more ways to reduce the carbon footprint, visit http://steadfast.net/corporate/green.php.

Steadfast Networks Publicizes New Green Initiative

(The Hosting News) – NTT Communications’s American branch has officially announced that certain company executives will attend the Spring 2010 Channel Partners Conference & Expo, March 1-3 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, to meet current and potential solution partners and discuss NTT America’s Global IP Network (GIN) Solution Partners Program. NTT America’s booth number is 1431. NTT America’s GIN Solution Partners Program is a channel neutral program that enables qualified referral partners, agents and Value Added Resellers (VARs) to sell NTT America’s entire suite of domestic and international IP and data solutions including Fast Ethernet (FE), Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) and 10GigE. The company has recently released a case study with Silent Partner, a firm that provides Internet connectivity and colocation services, emphasizing the unique benefits of channel neutral partnerships.

NTT America’s GIN Solution Partners Program is channel neutral, which means that NTT America’s GIN direct sales team and the channel team avoid competition and work together to win new customers. The channel integration aspect of the program eliminates channel conflict and opens the door to new sales opportunities, creating a winning scenario for NTT America and the company’s Solution Partners. In addition, Solution Partners benefit from NTT America’s industry leading provisioning and from the ability to sell 10GigE. 10GigE is a flexible, ultra high bandwidth solution designed for the largest colocation and hosting firms, large Internet Service Providers (ISPs), incumbent Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) providers, content providers with rich and streaming media, and Multiple System Operators (MSOs) with the ability to grow to a full 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps).
The channel neutral approach has proven beneficial for NTT America’s Solution Partner Silent Partner, as the relationship exemplifies how to provide optimal colocation and network strategy to benefit a myriad of clients. Silent Partner recognized that if businesses had a trusted partner to determine key elements of network strategy and implementation, and act in their best interests in negotiating with some of the largest telecom and network service providers, it would allow companies to focus on what they do best, making their business profitable and productive. The firm achieved this by creating a unique ecosystem to foster relationships between clients and a pre-vetted network of complementary businesses and professionals. Part of Silent Partner’s ecosystem, NTT America provides products and services including the NTT Communications Global IP Network, a Tier 1 Internet backbone that serves the US, Central and Latin America, Europe, Oceania, Japan and Asia as well as strategically placed data centers located across these same locations.

NTT America brings an array of assets to the table that Silent Partner considers important when determining a good partner fit, including proximity of data centers, networks with expansive reach, access to all levels of a partner organization and the ability to move quickly to get clients needs met. In addition, NTT America’s industry leading Service Level Agreements (SLAs), highly reliable infrastructure and strong presence in Asia are key attributes which have made the Solution Partner relationship successful because Silent Partner’s clients businesses depend on the constant and instant accessibility offered by the NTT America network and its data centers.

“NTT America’s channel neutral approach lets us work with them as a team for our clients,” said Kevin Francis, principal, Silent Partner. “We’re empowered to work with whatever level of their organization we need to get things done. In the end it’s not about who worked with the client but that the plan we designed gets implemented and NTT America is behind us 100 percent, working with us as collaborators to add value beyond price.”

NTT America’s GIN Solutions Partners Program provides participants with sales training, on-line portals, lucrative compensations, competitive pricing, and technical support. Qualified participants may enter the Referral Program, Agent Program or Reseller Program.
• Referral Program: Referral Program Partners receive a one-time commission on the monthly recurring revenue.
• Agent Program: Agents receive lucrative monthly commissions on the monthly recurring revenue of a closed opportunity. NTT America’s sales team and the agent work together to close the customer business. NTT America is the customer’s first line of support, enabling the agent to concentrate on their core business and finding more opportunities.
• Reseller Program: Resellers do not receive commissions but are given a discounted static pricing book. The reseller is the customer’s first line of technical support and billing support.

Potential channel partners are invited to contact channel@us.ntt.net to see which Solutions Partners Program fits their business and to schedule a meeting with NTT America’s Global IP Network team at the Channel Partners Conference and Expo.

NTT America Supports Solution Partners Program at 2010 Channel Partners Expo