Gawkwire: Web Hosting and Internet News Resource

A Look at the International Data Center Efficiency Metric Agreement

2010-04-09T21:07:00-04:00

(Gawkwire.com) Last Monday, Green Grid announced that government agencies in Europe, the United States, and Japan have all agreed to utilize the Power Usage Effectiveness Metric in order to help measure the energy efficiency of data centers. This agreement has been a continuing process that began in early February during a meeting between key agencies including the US Department of Energy, US EPA, European Commission JRC Code of Conduct, and the Green IT Promotion Council and Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, both of Japan.

This agreement was designed to create a standardized set of guidelines that every company around the world can use to measure the energy efficiency of their data centers. It also gives companies a way to quantify the successes of energy-reducing techniques that are used at facilities around the globe. A standard sets of metrics will make global communication much more successful and useful in regards to maximizing the efficiency of data centers.

While this is a fantastic starting point, this agreement will need to be followed up with continued global communication, cooperation, and standardization in order to be successful in the long term. Let's take a look at some potential sticking points that could cause waves in the future if additional agreements cannot be met.

1. Creating Additional Metrics
Coming out this agreement, it was also noted that organizations will need to create additional metrics in order to achieve the goals and results that were set forth in the initial agreement. It could be troubling if these additional metrics are not created soon. A task force has been created to determine when these groups will meet again. The timing of these meetings will be largely based on the amount of progress that is being made.

2. A Lot of Flexibility
While flexibility is great, it can also quickly become a source of conflict. Every participating country will either endorse or adopt guidelines to improve data center energy efficiency. This is done to accomplish some of the goals set within the agreement as well as to test out new sets of metrics, defining each metric, defining how each metric should be measured, and establishing clear avenues for communication in regards to developing new metrics. With every country being given the ability to do what they wish in regards to the definition, collection, and creation of new metrics, the sense of standardization that this agreement is predicated on could quickly disappear.

While this agreement is obviously a fantastic first step in global cooperation in regards to data center energy efficiency, there is a lot more work that needs to be done. It is always important to applaud the first steps of new agreements, at the same time, it is important to recognize that a lot of work still needs to be done.

Author's Bio: Roko Nastic is writer and editor at WebmasterFormat.com, website developed to help webmasters bulid and mantain successfull websites. Visitors to WebmasterFormat can enjoy a lot of useful tips, latest news and help in finding the best web hosting companies.

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/a_look_at_the_international_data_center_efficiency_metric_agreem.html

Colocation America Names Shawn Jacobs as New Marketing Director

2010-03-16T00:10:00-04:00

(The Hosting News) Colocation America, a leading colocation server hosting company, announced today its appointment of Shawn Jacobs as marketing director. Jacobs has shared his expertise with Colocation America since its founding in 2000, immersing himself in colocation hosting services and establishing Colocation America as a leading colocation server hosting company.

“Shawn’s high degree of experience and knowledge regarding the unique needs of the hosting market was instrumental in our expansion from one to five data centers in Los Angeles,” says Michael Trunkett, President at Colocation America. “And the pinnacle of course is our presence at One Wilshire, where we’ve been providing secure and fast data transfers since the IP revolution.”

Jacobs will oversee marketing and branding of Colocation America’s colocation hosting services, dedicated hosting services and security services. His duties also include fostering a greater global interest in Colocation America for international companies seeking a Los Angeles or other Point of Presence (POP) data center and colocation/dedicated server hosting provider.

“Moving Colocation America forward at this time when more and more companies locally, nationally and world-wide are shifting to colocation services is an exciting opportunity,” says Shawn Jacobs, Marketing Director at Colocation America. “Often businesses don’t realize how beneficial colocation or dedicated server hosting can be in terms of cost, efficiency, and security.”

Colocation America has extended its fiber optic network from Southern California to nationwide, and its managed IT solutions have extended as well. Colocation America’s access to more than 200 premier Tier-1 carriers ensures virtually unlimited network capacity, and its emergency and fire protection gives businesses 99.99% uptime.

“Colocation America leads the colocation market because of its commitment to serving clients with the best trained technicians using the most state-of-the-art technology,” says Shawn Jacobs. “I feel privileged to increase Colocation America’s visibility and alert businesses how the right IT solution can rejuvenate their company.”

Prior to his appointment as Marketing Director, Shawn Jacobs oversaw product marketing activities for Colocation America. Trunkett’s familiarity with the colocation hosting services marketplace and the unique requirements and challenges of businesses of all sizes enables him to present reliable IT solutions.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/colocation_america_names_shawn_jacobs_as_new_marketing_director.html

Colocation America Announces Emergency Protection from Data Loss

2010-03-08T23:44:00-05:00

(The Hosting News) Colocation America, a leading colocation server hosting company, announced today its redundant emergency protection systems for businesses and organizations of all sizes that utilize colocation and dedicated server hosting services. Colocation America’s redundant systems have protected businesses through adverse weather conditions this winter, earthquakes and other natural disasters, and network threats that consume and destroy network resources.

“We are seeing businesses get harsh treatment from the elements recently, and in that situation you want to be 100% sure your business can survive the most devastating conditions,” says Michael Trunkett, President at Colocation America. “With protected colocation servers storing a company’s essential data, you can stay on your feet and serve customers as usual, without interruption from natural disasters or conditions that could cause catastrophic failure.”

Businesses of all sizes need redundant emergency protection to safeguard financial information, employee information, data on projects in progress, sales and distribution information, and customer databases. Losing this data can set a company back for months or years, or it may not recover. Colocation America provides redundant emergency protection systems at all times as part of their colocation hosting services and dedicated hosting services

“Without accurate customer information, the business-customer relationship erodes and companies can lose their competitive advantage,” says Trunkett. “In this economic environment that could be fatal, so our data centers secure our customers’ data with the highest level of both physical and virtual protection.”

Colocation America colocation facilities have a comprehensive suite of monitoring systems in place. Manned ground floor operation centers actively monitor security, fire protection, climate control and power systems. Monitoring of climate examines chillers, essential airflows, temperature, humidity and other environmental conditions. Individual customer power consumption is maintained with UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) systems and backup generators.

“Highly trained technicians and engineers monitor our data centers around the clock, 24-7-365,” says Trunkett. “If a malicious threat occurs, or any change in environmental conditions, our specialized pre-action mechanisms kick in to prevent damage before it can occur.”

Colocation America provides clients with a secure data center environment that ensures their critical systems and the data they contain are protected under a range of conditions. Colocation and dedicated hosting customers interested in protecting their business data are encouraged to visit the Colocation America website at www.ColocationAmerica.com for more information on Colocation America’s emergency systems.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/colocation_america_announces_emergency_protection_from_data_loss.html

Twitter Passes 10 Billion Tweets

2010-03-08T06:24:00-05:00

(The Hosting News) We all know that Twitter has grown quickly and become extremely popular. In fact the service has become so popular that it even has it’s own awards. However, I came across some interesting and enlightening growth information on Twitter recently while conducting research for reseller hosting provider 34SP.com. Twitter has just sent out its 10 billionth tweet.

That’s a ten with nine zeros after it: 10,000,000,000.

When you think about it – it’s not surprising. After all, this was the site that grew 1,382 percent in one year from February 2008 to February 2009. The site attracted 475,000 visitors in February of 2008 and surged up to 7,038,000 users just one year later. According to published data,Twitter currently pushes out a daily average of 50 million tweets. Those 140 character or less messages are racing out onto the Internet, phones and various other devices at the rate of over 2 million every single hour of every single day. The Official Twitter blog noted a few weeks ago these growth trends, ”Folks were tweeting 5,000 times a day in 2007. By 2008, that number was 300,000, and by 2009 it had grown to 2.5 million per day. Tweets grew 1,400% last year to 35 million per day. Today, we are seeing 50 million tweets per day—that’s an average of 600 tweets per second. (Yes, we have TPS reports.)”.

The Twitter service was developed in 2006. On March 21, 2006 Jack Dorsey published the first Twitter message at 9:50 PM Pacific Standard Time (PST). That message was: ”just setting up my twttr”. Since then Twitter has become a huge social media phenomenon – although the company has struggled over the past few years to develop a truly compelling revenue model to benefit financially from the service’s popularity. According to Wikipedia the company has raised over $57 million from venture capitalists.

The ten billionth tweet was estimated to have been sent sometime in the past 24 hours. The uncertainty comes from the methodology used to determine exactly how many tweets have been sent. The method used relies on historical data and rates of tweeting to arrive at a number. Most major news sources were turning to a fun application entitled GigaTweet which simply has a counter that continuously counts up tweets.

GigaTweet estimates that the next billion tweets will have been sent out within the next 20 days. That’s quite a few tweets

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/twitter_passes_10_billion_tweets.html

Colocation America Improves Business Performance While Lowering IT Costs

2010-03-01T22:05:00-05:00

(The Hosting News) Colocation America, a leading colocation server hosting company, announced today its success in reducing IT expenses for clients by providing data center colocation hosting services, security protection, and continuous up time.

“Small and mid-size businesses often settle for a data center that doesn’t meet their needs because of the related costs of energy and cooling, and adequate security,” said Shawn Jacobs, Director of Marketing at Colocation America. “Bandwidth is another huge expense, and most companies only need all their bandwidth a fraction of the time.”

To alleviate an IT department’s prohibitive costs, Colocation America’s hosting services include multiple power and cooling paths, 24/7 biometric security, and virtually unlimited bandwidth transmission through upstream providers. Unexpected costs associated with in-house data centers such as losing data and experiencing downtime due to bad weather or transitioning to a new system are alleviated with Colocation America’s security, management and data storage services.

“Losing customer data is a tragedy no company should experience so we take every precaution necessary to ensure our customers’ servers are online and available,” said Jacobs. “Colocation America prides itself on delivering peace of mind for every business we host, especially during natural disasters, expansion, or network threats. Our emergency generators and firewall protection enable us to guarantee 99.99% up time, so our customers can rest easy and focus on their business.”

Colocation America’s expert team and employee training programs reduce costs for colocation hosting customers by eliminating the need for a company to hire its own specialized engineers. In-house data centers experience downtime when upgrading to allow for business growth. In addition, investing in technology for anticipated future growth significantly raises IT costs. Colocation America keeps those costs down with expansive data center space and custom server options.

“At Colocation America, creating a state of the art, secure and fast data transmission system is only part of the equation,” says Jacobs. “By understanding the needs of your business, we keep costs manageable for every company regardless of size.”

Colocation America continues its quest as one of the fastest growing colocation server hosting providers in the nation. Customers looking for a reliable colocation hosting provider are encouraged to visit colocationamerica.com for move-in specials, data center locations, POPs, security, reliability, and pricing information.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/colocation_america_improves_business_performance_while_lowering_.html

Colocation America Transforms Web Site With Adrecom Web Portal CMS Platform

2010-02-19T03:53:00-05:00

(The Hosting News) Colocation America (www.colocationamerica.com, “CLA”) recently transformed its web presence and updated its legacy web site with the Adrecom Web Portal CMS Platform (www.adrecom.net). The upgrade gives CLA a cutting edge web solution that improves collaboration among its mobile workforce and enables it to quickly enter new markets.

Although ColocationAmerica.com (CLA) had been expanding its business for over 10 years, its web presence had not kept up with its corporate identity as a premium Internet Service Provider with data centers across the United States. The Adrecom platform, which enables companies to improve legacy web sites and develop a next generation web presence, was an ideal solution for CLA’s requirements.

Through Adrecom’s rapidly deployable multi-user solution and content management system (CMS), CLA now can make immediate changes to web pages, blogs, videos, and other online elements. The Adrecom platform gives CLA complete control over its web strategy, delivers measurable performance efficiencies, and prevents the company’s site from becoming quickly outdated. Moreover, the solution helps CLA avoid the high costs of external webmasters and design firms while bringing critical web maintenance functions in-house.

As Adrecom is upgrading customers to version 7 of its multi-user Ecommerce & Corporate Portal Suite, clients like CLA can easily update outdated and legacy web sites at a lower cost to market. The Ecommerce & Corporate Portal Suite features advanced prebuilt modules and toolsets that are designed to propel businesses in record time to the next level in web site functionality, flexibility, and performance.

“We delayed new web deployments because of the complexity and costs involved in transforming a legacy web site,” noted Sean Jacobs, Director of Marketing at CLA. “With Adrecom, however, we did not get distracted unnecessarily by the fine tuning and adjustments required by less capable and less flexible web solutions. Ultimately, Adrecom helped us completely upgrade our site at lower costs and with fewer headaches,” he added.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/colocation_america_transforms_web_site_with_adrecom_web_portal_c.html

Allentown, PA Web Design Firm celebrates the new year by launching a new brand.

2010-01-05T23:32:00-05:00

Strategic Solutions, one of the world's leading web firms, has launched their highly anticipated new corporate brand in celebration of the new year, affirming the company's commitment to its clients and building upon their strong position in the industry.

This new brand identity coincides with fully redesigned websites for each of their company divisions, including their regional office located in Allentown PA, to more effectively convey the wide range of services provided by the company.

Strategic Solutions is passionate about working with Allentown area businesses. They have worked with many firms, from web startup companies to Fortune 500 Corporations, even ad agencies. Their close relationship with customers proves that Strategic Solutions is the premier Allentown, PA web design firm. That is why the top companies and entrepreneurs choose Strategic Solutions when they search for an Allentown, PA web design firm.

By leveraging their own unparalleled combination of creativity, experience, and talent, they've succeeded in creating a powerful cutting edge brand with stunning sites designed to impress with clarity of content, functionality, and search engine performance. The very same thing they've been doing for their customers.

The new sites feature many new elements including expanded galleries, detailed overviews of services and user-friendly navigation. All of these elements are enhanced by a clean and professional website presentation.

Strategic Solutions' team includes experts in web design, customized web application development and programming, hosting, seo and internet marketing all under one roof. The new websites are a collaborative effort of the entire Strategic Solutions team and represent the continued growth they have experienced over the past few years. With an improved corporate brand, new websites, and an experienced and creative staff, the future looks very bright for Strategic Solutions.

The new web sites are the second major change the company has experienced over the last several months, as their offices recently implemented a new automated, customer service focused, toll-free telephone system. This change resulted in a new corporate toll-free telephone number, 888-335-4775.

About Strategic Solutions
Strategic Solutions has evolved into a prominent provider of web based products and internet services that permit companies and individuals to utilize the power of the world wide web, with offices located in Allentown PA and Reston VA. They have been doing business for over 13 years, in over 46 countries worldwide, spanning over 4,200 domains. Strategic Solutions offers a variety of services to help businesses manage, grow and succeed in today's technological environment, including professional Web Design, custom Web Application Development, Domain Name Registration, Web Hosting, Search Engine Optimization, Web Consulting, and Web Banner Design. They are proficient in several languages including ColdFusion, HTML, Javascript, PHP, ASP, Flash, Ajax, Flex, Air, and the list keeps growing. Strategic Solutions Allentown PA web design team specializes in all aspects of web design and development. For more information on web design services in Allentown PA visit their web site at http://www.2ss.net. http://www.gawkwire.com/web_design/allentown_pa_web_design_firm_celebrates_the_new_year_by_launchin.html

Web Design Firm, Strategic Solutions, Celebrates the New Year by Launching a New Brand

2010-01-03T22:16:00-05:00

This new brand identity coincides with fully redesigned websites for each of their company divisions, including their design division SS-Designs, to more effectively convey the wide range of services provided by the company. Strategic Solutions is committed to simplifying the web for businesses by providing a broad range of web-based solutions that include professional Web Design, custom Web Application Development, Domain Name Registration, Web Hosting, Search Engine Optimization, Web Consulting, and Web Banner Design.

The new sites feature many new areas including expanded galleries, detailed overviews of services and user-friendly navigation. All of these elements are enhanced by a clean and professional website presentation.

The new Web sites are the second major change the company has experienced over the last several months, as their offices recently implemented a new automated, customer service focused, toll-free telephone system. This change resulted in a new corporate toll-free telephone number, 888-335-4775.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_design/web_design_firm_strategic_solutions_celebrates_the_new_year_by_l.html

Webfusion Purchases Assests of XCalibre Communications

2009-12-11T06:18:00-05:00

(The Hosting News) Web hosting specialist, Webfusion, has acquired the hosting assets of XCalibre Communications to bolster it’s managed hosting business. The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, will enable Webfusion to extend its offering and provide XCalibre customers with access to a variety of products, along with 24×7 support.

The remaining XCalibre business will transfer to Flexiant Ltd. Webfusion, in partnership with Flexiant, will trial the FlexiScale cloud computing platform and it is hoped that FlexiScale will eventually be offered as a service to Webfusion customers.

Thomas Vollrath, Managing Director of Webfusion, comments, “XCalibre has an excellent portfolio of hosting products and we are delighted to partner with them. The acquired Xcalibre customer base will benefit from an increased product set and more choice in entry level managed hosting packages. We look forward to the opportunities to widen our portfolio and present these customers with a greater choice of hosting and web security solutions.”

Tony Lucas, CEO of XCalibre, comments: “This partnership with Webfusion is very important to us and will allow us to strengthen our focus on the continued development of FlexiScale platform and other software products. Our roots are in hosting but our passion is development and going forward this experience will shape our transition into and growth as a software and services company, pioneering cloud computing.”

Customers of XCalibre Communications will become clients of Webfusion with immediate effect. There will not be any changes to control panels or services provided. In addition, customers will benefit from Webfusion’s UK-based data centre, round the clock support teams and access to a wider range of products and services.

Webfusion is part of the Host Europe Group, which is owned by Oakley Capital.

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/webfusion_purchases_assests_of_xcalibre_communications.html

Parallels Summit 2010 Opens with Keynote Address

2009-12-10T06:18:00-05:00

(The Hosting News) Worldwide cloud-enablement leader Parallels, today announced that Melanie Posey, Research Director, Hosting and Telecom Markets at IDC will deliver the opening keynote address at Parallels Summit 2010 in Miami Beach, Florida on 22-24 February. Ms. Posey will introduce the theme of the event – ‘Profit from the Cloud’ – with a presentation on Public Clouds delivered on the morning of February 23rd, 2010.

“With so much emphasis on the cloud model and its implications for all telcos, hosters, VARs, managed service providers and ISVs, Parallels Summit 2010 will provide the perfect forum for tracking global trends, leveraging them in local markets and meeting some of the most significant companies in the industry,” said Melanie Posey, Research Director, Telecom Markets at IDC.

Also joining the speaker line-up is Lance Crosby, CEO of SoftLayer, who plans to specifically address questions asked by those in the industry while also providing some insight into creating and building a high growth hosting company. “The Parallels Summit is one of the most important events that we attend. It has the most qualified delegates in the hosting industry and is often the starting point for many of our long lasting relationships,” he said. “I’m looking forward to a very interactive session and urge people to send their questions in early.”

Other confirmed speakers for the event include Warren Adelman, President and Chief Operating Officer at GoDaddy.com and Antonio Piraino, Senior Analyst, Managed Hosting & Cloud Infrastructure Services, Tier 1 Research. Serguei Beloussov, Chairman and CEO at Parallels and Jack Zubarev, President, Service Provider Worldwide at Parallels will feature prominently throughout the Summit.

Platinum sponsors for this exclusive event include Microsoft and Verisign while gold sponsors are Intel and Unison and Silver sponsors are AMD, InterNex, tucows and e.pages.

Parallels Summit 2010 will be held at Fontainebleau Miami Beach from 22-24 February, 2010. Registration is free for Parallels partners, customers, invited guests and other industry professionals. This global conference will provide a blueprint of how delegates can utilize Parallels technology to enable new Cloud Services; develop strategies to improve and extend the value of their services to the market; and develop new up-sell and cross-sell strategies that drive more revenue.

About Parallels — Optimized Computing
Parallels is a worldwide leader in virtualization and automation software that optimizes computing for consumers, businesses, and cloud services providers across all major hardware, operating systems, and virtualization platforms

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